Effects of magnetically modified natural zeolite addition on the crosslink density, mechanical, morphological, and damping properties of SIR 20 natural rubber reinforced with nanosilica compounds

We investigated the effect of magnetically modified natural zeolite on the mechanical and damping properties of natural rubber-nanosilica compounds. We used natural rubber SIR 20 technical specified rubber (TSR) reinforced with a nanosilica filler. The results showed that using zeolite modified with magnetite and titanate coupling agent (TCA), which are alternative coupling agents to replace silane coupling agents, and amorphous silica as the filler in natural rubber TSR SIR 20 compounds enhanced the mechanical properties of the TSR vulcanization products. The relationships among the crosslink density, mechanical properties and damping properties were also explored. We also identified that an improvement in the properties resulted from a modification of the white oil softener and filler comprising the zeolite-nanosilica-magnetic blends. The results of magnetically modified zeolite showed that the crosslink density, mechanical properties and damping properties increased significantly. The damping ratio in the sample comprising Si + Fe + Z with or without the white oil softener was higher than that of the other samples herein (ζ > 0.03). Based on this result, a reinforced nanosilica filler with magnetically modified zeolite has the potential to replace carbon black and is applicable to damping devices.