Improved Rubber Performance Through Phenolic Resin-Modified Silica: A Novel Coupling Mechanism for Enhanced Recyclability

Passenger car tires (PCTs) usually consist of a silica/silane-filled Butadiene Rubber (BR) or Solution Styrene Butadiene (SSBR) tread compound. This system is widely used due to improvements observed in rolling resistance (RR) as well as wet grip compared to carbon black-filled compounds. However, the covalent bond that couples silica via silane with the rubber increases the challenge of recycling these products. Furthermore, this strong covalent bond is unable to reform once it is broken, leading to a deterioration in tire properties. This work aims to improve these negative aspects of silica-filled compounds by developing a novel coupling system based on non-covalent interactions, which exhibit a reversible feature. The formation of this new coupling was accomplished by reacting silica with silane and a phenolic resin in order to obtain simultaneous π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding. The reaction was performed using two different silanes (amino and epoxy silane) and an alkyl phenol-formaldehyde resin. The implementation of the new coupling resulted in improved crosslink density, better mechanical performance, superior fatigue behavior, and a similar rolling resistance indicator.