Surface modification of silica nanoparticles by a polyoxyethylene sorbitan and silane coupling agent to prepare high-performance rubber composites

Abstract The interfacial interaction between nano-silica and rubber matrix is very important for the preparation of high-performance rubber composites. In this paper, we first proposed the use of TWEEN-20 as a new silica modifier, it has four long arms consisting of three polyether chains with terminal hydroxyl group and a fatty chain. The oxygen on the polyether can form a hydrogen bond with the silanol groups on silica surface, and the terminal hydroxyl groups can chemically react with the silanol groups without any VOCs. Moreover, the long fatty chain can weaken silica polarity to obtain a better compatibility with rubber, so that silica modified by TWEEN-20 with chemical reaction and physical absorption can homogeneously disperses in rubber matrix. Nextly, we prepared high-performance natural rubber (NR) composites by adjusting the ratio of TWEEN-20 to TESPT to adjust the physical and chemical interaction between nano-silica and rubber molecular chains. The results indicated that the performances, including the filler dispersion, static mechanical properties, and dynamic heating (viscoelastic self-heating), were optimal when the ratio of TESPT to TWEEN-20 was 2:1. In addition, one-third of TESPT was replaced by TWEEN-20 to prepare silica/rubber composites, which can reduce one-third of VOCs, improve “scorchy”, and achieve high dispersion of silica.