relaxation phenomena in rubber/layered silicate nanocomposites

Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS) is employed in order to investigate relaxation phenomena occurring in natural rubber (NR), polyurethane rubber (PUR) and PUR/NR blend based nanocomposites, reinforced by 10 parts per hundred (phr) Layered Silicates (LS). Nanocomposites and matrices were examined under identical conditions in a wide frequency (10–1 to 106 Hz) and temperature (–100 to 50°C) range. Experimental data are analyzed in terms of electric modulus formalism. The recorded relaxation phenomena include contributions from both the polymer matrices and the nanofiller. Natural rubber is a non-polar material and its performance is only slightly affected by the presence of layered silicates. Polyurethane rubber exhibits four distinct relaxation processes attributed, with ascending relaxation rate, to Interfacial Polarization (IP), glass/rubber transition (α-mode), local motions of polar side groups and small segments of the polymer chain (β, γ-mode). The same processes have been detected in all systems containing PUR. IP is present in all nanocomposites being the slowest recorded process. Finally, pronounced interfacial relaxation phenomena, occurring in the PUR+10 phr LS spectra, are attributed to nanoscale effects of intercalation and exfoliation.