Influence of the silanes on the crosslink density and crosslink structure of silica-filled solution styrene butadiene rubber compounds

The effects of three silane coupling agents, triethoxy(octyl)silane (TEOS), bis[3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]disulfide (TESPD), and bis[3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]tetrasulfide (TESPT) on the filler-rubber interaction, crosslink density and crosslink structure of the silica-filled solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) vulcanizates were studied. High dispersion silica, 7000GR, was used as the filler, and the loading range was varied from 0 to 60 phr. Crosslink density was measured by the swelling method. Experimental results showed that Kraus plot can be applicable to the silica-filled SSBR vulcanizates to separate filler-rubber interaction from the measured swelling data. Filler-rubber interaction increased by increasing sulfur rank in the silane as TEOS < Silica without silanes < TESPD < TESPT. Sulfurless silane, i.e. TEOS, only worked as a covering agent for hydrophobating silica surface. Silica without silane show high filler-rubber interaction than TEOS system because chain-end functionalized SSBR was used in this study. Unfilled system showed similar amounts of poly, di, and mono-sulfidic crosslinks. On the contrary to this, all of the silica-filled vulcanizates showed high mono-sulfide contents due to longer cure time.