Modified Pyrolytic Carbon Black from Scrap Tires and Its Reinforcement Performance in Natural Rubber

Carbon blacks are the most widely used reinforcing fillers. The raw material of carbon black manufacture depends on petroleum industry to a great extent. Reclamation of used tires is to be enormously significant as oil will be used up in the near future. Pyrolytic carbon black (PCB) is one of the most important products from the pyrolysis of scrap tires. One of the most essential applications for modified PCB is to reinforce the rubber matrix to obtain extra values. High inorganic ash content and a large amount of carbonaceous deposits on the surface of PCB confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) are the two main barriers for PCB further application. Adsorption layer with an adequately thick could not be formed on the surface of PCB because of the lack of effective active sites. Techniques for PCB modification have been developed. The rubber vulcanization and reinforcement properties of pyrolytic and modified carbon black were investigated and compared with those of commercial carbon black The cross link structure, relaxation and self-diffusion properties were investigated by solid-state high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance respectively. Demineralization and modification with NDZ-105 titanate coupling agent not only intensify the interactions between carbon black and the neighboring polyisoprene chains, but also increase the chemical cross-link density of the vulcanized rubber with TWPC. TWPC could be used to replace the commercial semi-reinforcing carbon black.