White carbon black is a white inorganic additive with certain reinforcement properties, which can replace carbon black to reinforce rubber materials in rubber product production, especially white, light or colored rubber products. The use of white carbon black in the production of off-road tires, engineering tires, radial tires, etc. has the effect of improving the comprehensive performance of automotive tires and increasing the mileage of tires.
1. The role of white carbon black in tires
Adding white carbon black to tire production can reduce tire rolling resistance, reduce fuel consumption, and significantly improve tire slip resistance and safety performance. Research has shown that replacing carbon black with white carbon black can effectively reduce the Paine effect of the rubber material, as well as the loss angle tangent tan at high temperatures δ， Thereby improving the rolling resistance of the tires. The use of all white carbon black tread compound can reduce rolling resistance by 20% and tire lag performance by about 50%, thereby saving more than 3% of fuel.
After adding white carbon black to the tire tread formula, the various properties of the tire are significantly improved; Especially in the balance of tire wear resistance, wet traction, and rolling resistance.
2. Insufficient use of white carbon black in tires
When white carbon black is used for reinforcing rubber tires, due to its small interface area, its affinity with rubber is poor; Easy to agglomerate, not conducive to dispersion during mixing; During the vulcanization process, there is a delayed vulcanization effect, which can easily react with other components. White carbon black is prone to adsorbing other coordination agents, which is not conducive to dispersion; Easy to dehydrate and form silicon oxide groups, which is not conducive to bonding; Structural hardening leads to an increase in viscosity during storage. Therefore, tire manufacturers should take certain measures to improve the application effect of white carbon black when using it.
3. Methods for improving the effect of adding white carbon black to tires
In actual production, the use of modifiers can adjust the addition effect of white carbon black in tires, with coupling agents as the main one, and silane coupling agents are more commonly used in coupling agents. The siloxy group in silane coupling agents has reactivity with inorganic substances, while the organic functional group has reactivity or compatibility with organic substances. When the silane coupling agent is between the inorganic and organic interfaces, a binding layer of organic matrix silane coupling agent inorganic matrix can be formed.