Nonlinear rheology of styrene-butadiene rubber filled with carbon-black or silica particles
Résumé
The nonlinear rheology of styrene-butadiene rubber filled with carbon-black or silica particles is investigated by complementary viscosimetric devices on a wide range of deformation and deformation rates. The effect of filler volume fraction on the rheological behaviour is systematically studied. The importance of a critical volume fraction (percolation threshold) is outlined, giving rise to a network structure at rest. At finite deformation, this structure is destroyed and the compounds exhibit a non-linear rheology quite similar to the unfilled rubber. The separability of time and strain effects on the relaxation modulus is observed not only for the pure elastomer, but also for the filled compounds. Several viscoelastic functions of the filled compounds (linear viscoelastic moduli, damping function, and shear-stress) can be rescaled using a concentration shift factor that is identical to the one used in Newtonian suspension rheology.