REDUCTION IN VISCOSITY OF AN SBR COMPOUND CAUSED BY MASTICATION AND DISAGGLOMERATION DURING MIXING

It would be advantageous to determine the causes of changes in theological behavior of a compound during mixing, so that mixing times and conditions could be optimized to give the desired processing behavior and properties of the final product. The causes of changes in viscosity during mixing of a compound containing only elastomer and carbon black were investigated by examining concurrent changes in viscosity of the gum, density of the compound and degree of carbon-black disagglomeration. The reduction in viscosity occurring during mixing could be attributed to mastication of the elastomer and disagglomeration of the carbon black. The effect of mastication could be removed by calculating values of relative viscosity, using the viscosity of the gum treated in a similar way to the compound and with an allowance being made for strain-rate amplification. The decrease in relative viscosity of the compound with increased mixing was attributed to a reduction in effective volume fraction of filler caused by immobilized rubber being released as carbon black agglomerates were broken down. The dibutyl phthalate absorption (DBPA) value of the carbon black gave a good indication of the amount of immobilized rubber present in an agglomerate.