Curing Characteristics, Fatigue Life and Morphological Properties of Natural Rubber Nanocomposites with Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs)/Carbon Black (CB) Hybrid Filler

In this research, natural rubber (NR) with halloysite nanotubes(HNTs)/carbon black (CB) hybrid filler at various filler loading was investigated where the total filler loading used in each compound were 40 phr. The curing characteristics, fatigue life and morphological properties of HNTs/CB/NR nanocomposites were studied. Laboratory two-roll mill was used for mixing process. The results revealed that vulcanizates containing more HNTs in hybrid filler exhibit longer scorch time (ts2) and cure time (t90) for curing characteristics and higher in fatigue life compared to vulcanizates with 40 phr of CB. The images from scanning electron microscope (SEM) confirmed that replacement of carbon black with halloysite nanotubes improved the fatigue life by showing more tearing surface on vulcanizates.