Tensile and Fracture Mechanical Properties of Styrene-Butadiene Rubbers (SBR) Filled with Industrial and Pyrolytic Carbon Blacks, and Organoclay

In this work we examined effects of filler combinations (industrial carbon black (CB), pelletized pyrolytic carbon black (pCBp) and organoclay (I30.P) on the tensile mechanical and fracture mechanical properties of SBR rubbers. The performance of standard N660 CB was compared with that of pCBp when used alone or in 1: 1 blend ratio at an overall filler content of 60 part per hundred part rubber (phr). The study covered also a mix composed of 20 phr pCB, 20 phr N660 and 10 phr I30.P the hardness of which was identical to those of the (p)CB filled ones. N660 yielded better tensile properties than pCBp. By contrast, the latter yielded higher tear and trouser tear strength values than CB. I30.P increased the storage modulus value (E’) in spite of the filler content of 50 phr. Presence of organoclay and pCBp also increased the critical value of the J-integral.