Fluorographene and carbon nanotubes fillers reinforced nitrile butadiene rubber with enhanced mechanical, wear and oil resistant properties

In this work, we prepared nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) composites with fluorographene (FG) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as hybrid fillers by a solution-blending method. The resulting composites xFG/yCNTs-NBR, where x and y represent the loading of FG and CNTs respectively, show significantly improved physical and mechanical properties. The hybrid fillers can form a filler network in the rubber matrix, leading to efficient energy dissipation. As a result, when the mass ratio of FG to CNTs is 1:1 and the total filler loading is 20 phr, the tensile strength of 10FG/10CNTs-NBR is as high as 12.1 MPa. Furthermore, due to inherent lubricating and oil-repelling effects of FG, 10FG/10CNTs-NBR shows an abrasion resistance index (ARI) of 187% and a volume change of 2.38% after 72 h of soaking in aviation oil, which are 24% higher and 48% lower than the corresponding values of unfilled NBR composites, respectively. These results indicate that the hybrid fillers can effectively enhance the mechanical, wear and oil resistant properties of the elastomer composites, which is conductive for application of the NBR-based composites. image