Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 12, Issue 42, Pages 48007-48015Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c15114
Keywords
ZnO; vulcanization; natural rubber; styrene-butadiene rubber; mechanical performance
Funding
- National Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China [51703007]
- Basic Science Center Foundation [51988102]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51790501]
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2019M650451]
- NSF [DMR 1501324, DMR 1410845]
- Department of Energy [DE-EE0006702]
- Scott Institute for Energy Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University
- China Scholarship Council
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The vulcanization of rubber is a chemical process to improve the mechanical properties by cross-linking unsaturated polymer chains. Zinc oxide (ZnO) acts as an activator, boosting the rubbers sulfur vulcanization. Maintaining the level of ZnO content in the rubber compounds as low as possible is desirable, not only for economic reasons but also to reduce the environmental footprint of the process. In this contribution, octylamine (OA) capped ZnO nanoparticles (5 nm diameter), prepared through a thermal decomposition method, were demonstrated to be efficient activators for the sulfur vulcanization of natural rubber, enabling the reduction of the required amount of ZnO as compared to commercial systems. The effect of different ZnO activators (OA capped ZnO/commercial indirect process ZnO) on the curing characteristics, cross-linking densities, and mechanical performance, as well as the thermal behavior of rubber compounds, were investigated. Compared to the commercial indirect process ZnO, OA capped ZnO nanoparticles not only effectively enhanced the curing efficiency of natural rubber but also improved the mechanical performance of the composites after vulcanization. This was interpreted as, by applying the OA capped ZnO nanoparticles, the ZnO levels in rubber compounding were significantly reduced under the industrial vulcanization condition (151 degrees C, 30 min).
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