Synergistic influence of carbon black and montmorillonite nano clay on mechanical, electrical, and acoustic properties of nitrile butadiene rubber nanocomposites via gamma radiation

Aiming at enhancing the characters of the synthetic rubber (NBR) to fulfill the required measures of many applications, this work aims to study the impact of both, carbon black at a constant concentration of 40 phr and organomontmorillonite clay (nanoclay) at varying loading levels (0, 3, 7 and 10) phr, as reinforcing fillers within the acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) matrix. The surfactant, N-cetyl-N, N, N-trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), was applied to modify the superficial properties of the clay. Modified montmorillonite possesses desirable intercalating behavior within the rubber matrix, regarded as effective reinforcing filler that can replace other fillers. TEM, FT-IR, XRD and EDX methods were used to characterize the developed organomontmorillonite. Similarly, the nanocomposites mechanical, electrical, acoustic and thermal stability properties were investigated.