Rubber – Clay Nanocomposites

Rubber – Clay Nanocomposites
Maurizio Galimberti^a
aPirelli Tyre, Viale Sarca 222, 20126 Milano,  Italy
Rubbers are definitely fundamental materials in modern everyday life, thanks to their unique properties. To fulfill the performances required in their different applications, rubbers have to be vulcanized and above all reinforced with active fillers.
Over the last fifteen years, layered clays have been acquiring an increasing interest as active fillers for rubbers, on the basis of their well known, safe toxicologic profile, and of their availability as inexpensive natural mineral fillers, which makes them of potential interest for large scale applications such as the one in the rubber world.
A remarkable reinforcement of the crosslinked elastomeric compounds, in the presence of better rheological properties, and an improvement of impermeability are reported as the main advantages brought about by clays in a rubber matrix.
This presentation aims to summarize and, at least to some extent, to rationalize the main aspects of rubber – clay nanocomposites: preparation and characterization, morphology, rheological behaviour, crosslinking kinetics and density, physical-mechanical properties, taking into consideration the most important diene and saturated rubbers. In particular, compounds for tyre applications are presented.