• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.411-416
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• 2014

Due to the polar characteristics of silica compared to carbon black, the degree of silica dispersion, which affects the mechanical properties of rubber compounds, is an important issue. Wolff first introduced the in-rubber structure of particles (${\alpha}_F$) to express the structure development in the compounds; however, with the introduction of bifunctional silanes, his theory could not explain the 3-dimensional network structure of the compounds. Later his theory was expanded to express the composite interaction parameter (in-rubber structure of the compound) (${\alpha}_C$), which included Wolff's filler-filler interaction parameter (${\alpha}_F$), however, there was no reported experimental result proving the theory. This research first experimentally expressed the in-rubber structure of the compound ${\alpha}_C$ (= ${\alpha}_F+{\alpha}_{FP}$(filler-silane-rubber interaction parameter) + ${\alpha}_P$ (rubber-rubber interaction parameter)) upon mono- and bifunctional silane treated silica filled natural rubber (NR) compounds. Using different structure silanes, i.e. PTES, OTES, TESPD, and TESPT, the ${\alpha}_C$ value of each compound was measured and calculated. The ${\alpha}_C$ value of TESPT treated silica filled compound was 1.64, which composed of ${\alpha}_F$ (0.99), ${\alpha}_{FP}$ (0.31), and ${\alpha}_P$ (0.34).