Properties of Styrene-Butadiene Rubber Nanocomposites Reinforced with Carbon Black, Carbon Nanotube, Graphene, Graphite

The characteristics of all polymer composites containing carbon materials are determined by four factors: component properties, composition, structure and interfacial interactions. The most important filler characteristics are particle size, size distribution, specific surface area and particle shape. As a consequence, in this paper we discuss the aspects of the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of composites with different fillers of carbon black, carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene and graphite and focus on the relationship between factors and properties, as mentioned above. Accordingly, we fabricate rubber composites that contain various carbon materials in carbon black-based and silica based-SBR matrixes with dual phase fillers and use scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, a rhometer, an Instron tensile machine, and a thermal conductivity analyzer to evaluate composites' mechanical, fatigue, thermal, and electronic properties. In mechanical properties, hardness and 300%-modulus of graphene-composite are sharply increased in all cases due to the larger specific surface. Also, it has been found that the thermal conductivity of the CNT-composite is higher than that of any of the other composites and that the composite with graphene has the best electrical properties.