Journal article
Dispersion of modified fumed silica in elastomeric nanocomposites
POLYMER, v 264, 125407
03 Jan 2023
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
In polymer nanocomposites, surface modification of silica aggregates can shield Coulombic interactions that inhibit agglomeration and formation of a network of agglomerates. Surface modification is usually achieved with silane coupling agents although carbon-coating during pyrolytic silica production is also possible. Pyrogenic silica with varying surface carbon contents were dispersed in styrene-butadiene (SBR) rubber to explore the impact on hierarchical dispersion, the emergence of meso-scale structures, and the rheological response. Pristine pyrogenic silica aggregates at concentrations above a critical value (related to the Debye screening length) display correlated meso-scale structures and poor filler network formation in rubber nanocomposites due to the presence of silanol groups on the surface. In the present study, flame synthesized silica with sufficient surface carbon monolayers can mitigate the charge repulsion thereby impacting network structural emergence. The impact of the surface carbon on the van der Waals enthalpic attraction, a*, is determined. The van der Waals model for polymer nanocomposites is drawn through an analogy between thermal energy, kBT, and the accumulated strain, gamma. The rheological response of the emergent meso-scale structures depends on the surface density of both carbon and silanol groups.
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Details
- Title
- Dispersion of modified fumed silica in elastomeric nanocomposites
- Publication Details
- POLYMER, v 264, 125407
- Publisher
- ELSEVIER SCI LTD; OXFORD
- Grant note
- This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through grants CMMI-1635865 and CMMI-1636036. Use of the Advanced Photon Source (APS), an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory, was supported by the U.S. DOE under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The USAXS data were collected at the APS on the beamline 9-ID-C operated by the X-ray Science Division. We gratefully acknowledge the vital assistance of Jan Ilavsky and Ivan Kuzmenko at beamline 9-ID-C. For use of the oscillatory rheometer and the FTIR spectrometer, we would like to thank Neil Ayres and Necati Kaval, respectively, in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000992300200001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85145601505
- Other Identifier
- 991021861184404721
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- Collaboration types
- Industry collaboration
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Polymer Science