Study on the effect of silica–graphite filler on the rheometric, mechanical, and abrasion loss properties of styrene–butadiene rubber vulcanizates

In the first step, isocyanatopropyltriethoxysilane was chemically introduced onto the silica aggregates, which was followed by grafting onto the expanded graphite via urethane linkage in the second step. Successful grafting of silica aggregates onto the graphite was corroborated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

The presence of a thin graphene layer on silica aggregates corroborated using transmission electron microscopy confirmed the grafting of silica aggregates onto the graphite surface. Styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) composites with various silica–graphite loadings were prepared by melt processing technique to generate pristine silica and silica–graphite-filled elastomeric composites. Rheometric cure studies revealed that the torque difference (Δ S ) increased with pristine silica loading, when compared to the unfilled SBR system, and this effect is more pronounced on loading silica–graphite filler.