C. Wang, S. Wu, University of Yantai, Yantai, China; T. Wang, University of Le Havre, Le Havre, France; J. B. Donnet, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie, Mulhouse, France; E. Custodero, A. Lapra, Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Rubber compound is a mutlicomponent complex. This paper will present some results on the AFM observation of the filler micro-dispersion in several rubber compounds and the corresponding surface morphology of used tire after road testing. Atomic force microscopy appears to be a useful technique to study the filler dispersion and worn rubber morphology at microscopic level. An important tire property,the worn tread surfaces,has been observed by AFM at microscopic scale. Compared to carbon blacks, silica has a poorer dispersion even in presence of coupling agent. In case of elastomer blends, the phase detection mode can reveal the microphase morphology and preferential location of the fillers. For the worn rubbers at the scale of observation the experimental carbon black and the silica show a smoother surface, indicating a better anti-wear property of the former fillers. At microscopic level, the "protruding" individual filler particles are observed.
Summary: The morphology of rubber blends has been observed by AFM and then the images have been analyzed quantitatively. Several parameters are related to the blend morphology. Among them, the interface length shows interesting results that allow to classify the morphology and to correlate with the elastomer viscosity during the blending.
