Effects of fiber content and resorcinol‐formaldehyde‐latex treatment on composite properties of acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber reinforced with chopped aramid fibers

Abstract This paper investigated the effects of the fiber content and the resorcinol‐formaldehyde‐latex (RFL) treatment on characteristics and properties of the aramid fiber (AF)/acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber (NBR) composites. The relationship between the AF/rubber matrix connection and the mechanical properties/wear resistance of the composites was the main focus. Results showed that the RFL treatment on the AFs significantly increased the elongation at break of the composites via improving the interfacial connection. However, samples with high untreated‐AF content showed the highest tensile strength due to the formation of fiber network during stretching. Moreover, the flexible RFL layer was not conducive to the tear strength of the composites. Furthermore, the addition of the AFs significantly improved the wear resistance of the NBR composites via enhancing the hardness and the tear strength, and the RFL coating was effective in further decreasing the wear rate under low load condition via improving the AF/NBR interaction. Under 20 N load condition, the specific wear rate of the composite with 15‐parts per hundred of rubber (phr)coated AFs was 90% and 40% lower than that of the NBR composites without AF and with 15‐phr untreated AFs, respectively.