The glass transition, segmental relaxations and viscoelastic behaviour of particulate-reinforced natural rubber

Glass Transition Temperatures and Thermal Conductivities of Polybutadiene Crosslinked with Randomly Distributed Sulfur Chains Using Molecular Dynamic Simulation

The thermal conductivities and glass transition temperatures of polybutadiene crosslinked with randomly distributed sulfur chains having different lengths from mono-sulfur (S1) to octa-sulfur (S8) were investigated. The thermal conductivities of the related models as a function of the heat flux autocorrelation function, applying an equilibrium molecular dynamic (EMD) simulation and the Green-Kubo method, were studied for a wide range of temperatures. The influence of the length of sulfur chains, degree of crosslinking, and molar mass of the crosslinker on the glass transition temperature and final values of thermal conductivities were studied. First, the degree of crosslinking is considered constant for the eight simulation models, from mono-sulfur (S1) to octa-sulfur (S8), while the molar mass of the sulfur is increases. The results show that the thermal conductivities of the crosslinked structure decrease with increasing temperature for each model. Moreover, by increasing the lengths of the sulfur chains and the molar weight of the crosslinker, thermal conductivity increases at a constant temperature. The MD simulation demonstrates that the glass transition temperature and density of the crosslinked structure enhance as the length of the sulfur chains and molar mass of the sulfur increase. Second, the molar weight of sulfur is considered constant in these eight models; therefore, the degree of crosslinking decreases with the increase in the lengths of the sulfur chains. The results show that the thermal conductivities of the crosslinked structure decrease with the increase in the temperature for each model. Moreover, by increasing the lengths of sulfur chains and thus decreasing the degree of crosslinking, the trend in changes in thermal conductivities are almost the same for all of these models, so thermal conductivity is constant for a specific temperature. In addition, the glass transition temperature and density of the crosslinked structure decrease.

Significant Influence of Bound Rubber Thickness on the Rubber Reinforcement Effect

In this work, the contribution of different types of carbon blacks (N115, N330, N550, N660) and their primary and secondary thermally cracked recovered carbon blacks to the mechanical properties of NR composites was evaluated. The thermally cracked recovered carbon blacks were prepared by cracking the rubber composites at 500 °C and de-hybridizing them at 900 °C. The characterization of the thermally cracked recovered carbon blacks by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that carbon blacks after primary and secondary thermal cracking recovery were more prone to aggregation and exhibited a higher degree of carbon defects. The number and type of functional groups on the surface of these carbon blacks were significantly reduced. For NR composites with pristine samples added, the mechanical properties and the bound rubber content tests showed that the mechanical properties of the NR composites became weaker with the increase in carbon black particle size. The bound rubber content also decreased with increased carbon black particle size. The mechanical properties of the NR composites reinforced with carbon black recovered by primary and secondary thermal cracking would therefore decrease. The results of AFM and DSC tests further confirmed the decreasing trend of bound rubber. The present work demonstrates the effect of bound rubber content variation on the mechanical properties of rubber, demonstrates the morphology of bound rubber more visually, and provides new insights into the reinforcement theory of CB.

The Influence of Colloidal Properties of Carbon Black on Static and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Natural Rubber

The influence of carbon black (CB) structure and surface area on key rubber properties such as monotonic stress-strain, cyclic stress-strain, and dynamic mechanical behaviors are investigated in this paper. Natural rubber compounds containing eight different CBs were examined at equivalent particulate volume fractions. The CBs varied in their surface area and structure properties according to a wide experimental design space, allowing robust correlations to the experimental data sets to be extracted. Carbon black structure plays a dominant role in defining the monotonic stress-strain properties (e.g., secant moduli) of the compounds. In line with the previous literature, this is primarily due to strain amplification and occluded rubber mechanisms. For cyclic stress-strain properties, which include the Mullins effect and cyclic softening, the observed mechanical hysteresis is strongly correlated with carbon black structure, which implies that hysteretic energy dissipation at medium to large strain values is isolated in the rubber matrix and arises due to matrix overstrain effects. Under small to medium dynamic strain conditions, classical strain dependence of viscoelastic moduli is observed (the Payne effect), the magnitude of which varies dramatically and systematically depending on the colloidal properties of the CB. At low strain amplitudes, both CB structure and surface area are positively correlated to the complex moduli. Beyond ~2% strain amplitude the effect of surface area vanishes, while structure plays an increasing and eventually dominant role in defining the complex modulus. This transition in colloidal correlations reflects the transition in stiffening mechanisms from flexing of rigid percolated particle networks at low strains to strain amplification at medium to high strains. By rescaling the dynamic mechanical data sets to peak dynamic stress and peak strain energy density, the influence of CB colloidal properties on compound hysteresis under strain, stress, and strain energy density control can be estimated. This has considerable significance for materials selection in rubber product development.

Glass Transition Temperature of PLGA Particles and the Influence on Drug Delivery Applications

Over recent decades, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) based nano- and micro- drug delivery vehicles have been rapidly developed since PLGA was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Common factors that influence PLGA particle properties have been extensively studied by researchers, such as particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), surface morphology, zeta potential, and drug loading efficiency. These properties have all been found to be key factors for determining the drug release kinetics of the drug delivery particles. For drug delivery applications the drug release behavior is a critical property, and PLGA drug delivery systems are still plagued with the issue of burst release when a large portion of the drug is suddenly released from the particle rather than the controlled release the particles are designed for. Other properties of the particles can play a role in the drug release behavior, such as the glass transition temperature (T_g). The T_g, however, is an underreported property of current PLGA based drug delivery systems. This review summarizes the basic knowledge of the glass transition temperature in PLGA particles, the factors that influence the T_g, the effect of T_g on drug release behavior, and presents the recent awareness of the influence of T_g on drug delivery applications.

Glassy and Polymer Dynamics of Elastomers by 1H-Field-Cycling NMR Relaxometry: Effects of Fillers

1H spin-lattice relaxation rate (R1) dispersions were acquired by field-cycling (FC) NMR relaxometry between 0.01 and 35 MHz over a wide temperature range on polyisoprene rubber (IR), either unfilled or filled with different amounts of carbon black, silica, or a combination of both, and sulfur cured. By exploiting the frequency-temperature superposition principle and constructing master curves for the total FC NMR susceptibility, χ″(ω) = ωR1(ω), the correlation times for glassy dynamics, τs, were determined. Moreover, the contribution of polymer dynamics, χpol″(ω), to χ″(ω) was singled out by subtracting the contribution of glassy dynamics, χglass″(ω), well represented by the Cole-Davidson spectral density. Glassy dynamics resulted moderately modified by the presence of fillers, τs values determined for the filled rubbers being slightly different from those of the unfilled one. Polymer dynamics was affected by the presence of fillers in the Rouse regime. A change in the frequency dependence of χpol″(ω) at low frequencies was observed for all filled rubbers, more pronounced for those reinforced with silica, which suggests that the presence of the filler particles can affect chain conformations, resulting in a different Rouse mode distribution, and/or interchain interactions modulated by translational motions.

Raman spectroscopic insights into the glass transition of poly(methyl methacrylate)

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a very versatile polymer which is used as a glass substitute or as an economical alternative to polycarbonate for many types of important applications, due to its particular physical properties. In this study we deal with the Raman spectroscopic characterization of the glass transition of PMMA, the value of the glass transition temperature being generally a decisive parameter for determining the application of polymers. The information obtained by two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS) analysis and perturbation-correlation moving-windows spectroscopy (PCMW2D) analysis of the temperature dependent depolarized Raman spectra enabled us to recognize that the glass transition of PMMA is ruled by intermolecular interactions which influence the vibrational modes of the molecular groups associated with ν(C[double bond, length as m-dash]O), δa(C-H) of α-CH3 and/or O-CH3, ν(C-O-C), ν(C-COO), and ν(C-C-O). This information was employed for the temperature dependent study of the Raman shift and of the full width at half maximum of the Raman peaks obtained through anisotropic and isotropic Raman spectra, of the depolarization ratio, of the Raman spectroscopic noncoincidence effect, and of the Raman peak intensities represented by Arrhenius-type plots, all results supporting the outcomes of this work. The comparison with results obtained by differential scanning calorimetry and with published results in molecular dynamics studies was also part of this work. As the main result, one can highlight the peak associated with the ν(C-O-C) stretching mode at around 812 cm-1 as the one which presents the better outcome for explaining the glass transition from the molecular point of view.

Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Silica/Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Vulcanizates with Eco-Friendly Ionic Liquid

In this paper we designed greener rubber nanocomposites exhibiting high crosslinking density, and excellent mechanical and thermal properties, with a potential application in technical fields including high-strength and heat-resistance products. Herein 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM]OAc) ionic liquid was combined with silane coupling agent to formulate the nanocomposites. The impact of [EMIM]OAc on silica dispersion in a nitrile rubber (NBR) matrix was investigated by a transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscopy. The combined use of the ionic liquid and silane in an NBR/silica system facilitates the homogeneous dispersion of the silica volume fraction (φ) from 0.041 to 0.177 and enhances crosslinking density of the matrix up to three-fold in comparison with neat NBR, and also it is beneficial for solving the risks of alcohol emission and ignition during the rubber manufacturing. The introduction of ionic liquid greatly improves the mechanical strength (9.7 MPa) with respect to neat NBR vulcanizate, especially at high temperatures e.g., 100 °C. Furthermore, it impacts on rheological behaviors of the nanocomposites and tends to reduce energy dissipation for the vulcanizates under large amplitude dynamic shear deformation.

Limitations of Viscoelastic Constitutive Models for Carbon-Black Reinforced Rubber in Medium Dynamic Strains and Medium Strain Rates

Modelling the viscoelastic behavior of rubber for use in component design remains a challenge. Most of the literature does not consider the typical regimes encountered by anti-vibration devices that are deformed to medium dynamic strains (0.5 to 3.5) at medium strain rates (0.5/s to 10/s). Previous studies have either focused on the behaviour at small strains and small strain rates or in fast loading conditions that result in low cycle fatigue or tearing phenomena. There is a lack of understanding of the dynamic response of natural rubber suspension components when used in real vehicle applications. This paper presents a review of popular viscoelastic nonlinear constitutive models and their ability to model the mechanical behaviour of typical elastomer materials such as Natural Rubber (NR) incorporating different PHR (Parts per Hundred Rubber, XX) of carbon black. The range of strain and strain rate are typical for the materials used in rubber suspensions when operating in severe service operating conditions, such as over rough terrain or over pot-holes. The cyclic strain is applied at different amplitudes and different strain rates in this medium strain range. Despite the availability of many models in the literature, our study reports that none of the existing models can fit the data satisfactorily over a wide range of conditions.

A Two-Step Methodology to Study the Influence of Aggregation/Agglomeration of Nanoparticles on Young's Modulus of Polymer Nanocomposites

A two-step technique based on micromechanical models is suggested to determine the influence of aggregated/agglomerated nanoparticles on Young's modulus of polymer nanocomposites. The nanocomposite is assumed to include nanoparticle aggregation/agglomeration and effective matrix phases. This method is examined for different samples, and the effects of important parameters on the modulus are investigated. Moreover, the highest and the lowest levels of predicted modulus are calculated based on the current methodology. The suggested technique can correctly predict Young's modulus for the samples assuming the aggregation/agglomeration of nanoparticles. Additionally, the aggregation/agglomeration of nanoparticles decreases Young's modulus of polymer nanocomposites. It is demonstrated that the high modulus of nanoparticles is not sufficient to obtain a high modulus in nanocomposites, and the surface chemistry of components should be adjusted to prevent aggregation/agglomeration and to disperse nano-sized particles in the polymer matrix.

NANOMECHANICS OF THE RUBBER–FILLER INTERFACE

Atomic force microscope (AFM)–based nanomechanics is one of the most promising tools for accessing the rubber–filler interface while providing not only structural information but also mechanical–property evaluation. An AFM-based static modulus map is used to close in on the understanding of the filler reinforcement effect. As an example, a famous Guth–Gold equation is verified by comparing tensile testing and AFM. Two different novel methods are also introduced to visualize viscoelastic quantities such as storage and loss moduli, loss tangent, relaxation modulus, and viscosity. The difference in segmental dynamics between a rubber matrix and an interfacial region will be reviewed.

The glass transition temperature measurements of polyethylene: determined by using molecular dynamic method

Different measurements of molecular dynamic simulation are used to investigated the glass transition temperature of polyethylene in this work. The simulated value of the T_g is about 200 K, which is in good agreement with available data of 195 K in the literature.