"Preparation of high gas barrier organic clay/natural rubber composites by static hot pressing method"

Organic clay (OC)/natural rubber (NR) composites were prepared by static hot pressing method, the microstructure and morphology of the composites were characterized, and the effects of OC amount on the mechanical properties, curing characteristics and gas barrier properties of the composites were investigated. The results showed that the crosslinking density of OC/NR composite increased after OC filled into NR, but the layered OC would block the reaction between the rubber matrix and vulcanizing agent, preventing the vulcanizing agent from quickly participating in the crosslinking reaction and causing delayed vulcanization of the rubber. With the increase of OC amount, the Payne effect was enhanced and the tensile strength increased first and then decreased. The tensile strength of the OC/NR composite filled with OC of 3 phr (mass, the same below) was 21.4 MPa, which was better than pure NR. The OC layer was uniformly dispersed in NR latex and assembled around submicron sized NR latex particles to form an isolation network structure, which was more conducive to blocking the diffusion of small gas molecules and extending the path. When the amount of OC was 7 phr, the gas permeability coefficient of the composite decreased by 47.7% compared to pure NR.