In situ filling of silica onto "green" natural rubber by the sol-gel process

The sol-gel reaction of tetraethoxysilane produced the fine and well-dispersed in situ silica particles in the "green" natural rubber (NR) matrix before curing, This new method was developed for a NR/silica composite material, and a good reinforcement effect of in situ silica was observed on the NR vulcanizate. The method is expected to be an industrially practical technique. The in situ silica did not much inhibit the accelerated sulfur curing. Thus. it is estimated that the concentration of silanol groups on the in situ silica surface was smaller than those on the conventional silica surface. The silica-silica interaction of in situ silica seems to be weaker to result in better dispersion in the rubber matrix compared with the conventional silica, Atomic force microscopy suggested that the wettability of NR onto in situ silica was higher than that onto conventional silica. The hardness, modulus at 50% elongation and the storage modulus at room temperature of in situ silica-filled NR vulcanizate were smaller than those of conventional silica-filled NR vulcanizate, although the crosslinking density of the former was larger than that of the latter and their silica contents were comparable. These unique characteristics of in situ silica-filled vulcanizate seem to be ascribed to the fine and well-dispersed in situ silica particles in the NR matrix. These observations suggest that NR (a renewable resource)/in situ silica composite has much potential as an ecologically "green" material in the rubber industry.