Variation of Air Permeability in Bromobutyl Rubber/epoxidized Natural Rubber Composites: Influence of Structure of Filler Particle

The effect of carbon black structure on dispersion and barrier properties in BIIR/ENR 50 blends is studied extensively in this paper. Carbon blacks with different dibutyl phthalate values are used for the study and it is found that the structure of carbon black strongly affects both the mode of dispersion as well as barrier properties of the end product. The morphology of various carbon blacks in their raw state and in the matrix was studied using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The influence of carbon black structure on the reinforcing was studied by analyzing the physical properties. The rubber-filler interaction was measured using bound rubber content and filler-filler interaction was studied using rubber processing analyzer. For the same loading of carbon black, the high structure carbon black is more difficult to disperse in BIIR/ENR 50 blends compared to the low structure carbon black, leading to changes in permeability properties.