Analysis of dispersion of fillers in functionalized SSBR/filler composites by using neutron and X-ray scattering

Yamaguchi, Daisuke; Koizumi, Satoshi; Yuasa, Takeshi*; Sone, Takuo*; Tominaga, Tetsuo*

A comprehensive small-angle scattering analyses on the dispersion state of fillers in rubber/filler compounds was investigated. Recently, an effective size reduction of dispersible units of the fillers and consequential improvement of the property of the hysteresis loss was attained in the end functionalized S-SBR/filler system. To get more insight into the hierarchical structure of those systems, a complementary use of different contrasts between neutron and synchrotron X-ray was attempted in this study. Each different profile of neutron and X-ray scattering suggested two dominant structures within the system: one is the higher-order aggregations of the filler particles and the other is originated from vulcanized SBR matrices.