Kaolin mineral fillers and Cuban CaCO 3 as fillers in rubber formulations

Abstract

The introduction of fillers into polymeric material formulations is avery employed and effective way for modifying their properties, the incorporation of solid, gaseous or liquid substances to the polymers which homogeneously distribute by self-inside of their volume and create a well-defined interphase with the polymeric part. The most employed fillers has been solids of organic or inorganic nature as well dispersing dust. The volume increasing originates by means of the incorporation of these fillers parallely diminish product costs. As the same time, this process facilitates to improve some physical mechanic and technological properties of polymeric material. The obtaining reinforcement of caoutchouc incorporating well disperse fillers into rubber mixes consists on a significative increasing of their consistence and improving of some of their properties. In this paper calcium carbonate and gray kaolin from Cuba were evaluated as fillers in rubber composites with SMR-20 natural rubber form Malaysia and NR from Brazil, and with styrene-butadiene SBR-1502 type synthetic rubber. Calcium carbonate from Brazil was also evaluated. The analytical data from density and surface area determinations, morphology, particle size distribution, rheometrical behavior of the composites during the mixing and vulcanization process and the mechanical and physical properties of the composites shows that gray kaolin gives to the rubber composites better properties than the other fillers. This behavior was remarked in natural rubber cases.