Rational design of reinforced rubber

Filled elastomer systems have been studied extensively over the past several decades, especially in the application to tire performance. During this time, many attempts have been made to explain reinforcement of an elastomer when fillers are added. These reinforced properties include enhanced strength, modulus, abrasion resistance, and dynamic mechanical properties. Several approaches have been used to separate the contributing influences and to explain how they work. The majority of these approaches look at the structure and property relationships of the fillers and rubbers independently and as a synergistic combination. These approaches have evolved into the following major areas: filler structure, hydrodynamic reinforcement, and interactions involving fillers and elastomers. This paper will review the major works in each of these areas and attempt to offer an overall view of reinforcement of elastomers. Special attention will be paid to the relationships between filler structure and how it may be used to predict reinforcement properties. The general topics that will be covered included filler structure and characterization, rubber and filler interactions, mechanical reinforcement/hydrodynamic effect, and a fractal approach to explaining reinforcement. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.