The viscoelastic properties of rubber/polymer composites depend on matrixfiller interaction, crystallinity, and the extent of crosslinking. Thomas et al. have
reported the dynamic mechanical and rheological properties of nitrile rubber (NBR)
nanocomposites based on TiO 2 (TO), Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 (CP), and layered silicate
(LS) [23]. They observed that composites containing layered silicates (LSs) show
better matrix-filler interaction as compared to other fillers. The higher interaction in
case of layered silicates is due to its higher surface area to volume ratio which
resulted in change in glass transition temperature. The storage modulus and complex viscosity of composites are studied with special reference to certain filler
loading (10 phr) of different fillers. Figure 3 shows the variation of storage modulus
with temperature of composites containing three different fillers having different
particle size and chemical nature at a frequency of 1 Hz. It is observed that the
Fig. 1 Effect of different types of mineral filler on the properties of filler-matrix composites
(http://www.rtvanderbilt.com/fillersintroweb.pdf)
Fig. 2 Effect of size, shape and surface area of filler particles on stress transfer (http://www.
rtvanderbilt.com/fillersintroweb.pdf)
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S. Nayak and T.K. Chaki