A Method to Resolve the Properties of Individual Phases in Carbon-Black-Loaded Elastomer Blends
Abstract Properties of the individual phases in a 70/30 carbon-black-loaded BR/NR blend could be successfully resolved using large deformation stress-strain modelling. Since the dispersed NR phase of the example had a lower modulus than the continuous BR phase, the interaction between the blend phases could be modelled by a simple parallel coupling arrangement. The stress behavior of each individual carbon-black-loaded polymer phase was then determined with respect to strain using a specially derived stress-strain relationship. The blend components also have to be characterized with respect to state-of-cure by empirically establishing how the parameters in the stress-strain relationship vary with respect to cure. The properties of the phases in the blend are then determined by finding the combination of component parameters which precisely reproduce the stress-strain behavior of the blend. In the demonstration example of this paper, there was evidence of a significant amount of curative migration between phases during the vulcanization process.