In the tire industry, the combination of carbon black and silica is commonly utilized to improve the comprehensive performance of natural rubber so as to realize the best performance and cost-effectiveness. The corresponding mixing is divided into three processes (initial mixing, delivery, reactive mixing) by the serial modular continuous mixing method, thus achieving more accurate control of the mixing process, higher production efficiency and better performance. Moreover, the optimization of serial modular continuous mixing process parameters can not only improve the performance of composite materials, but help people understand the physical and chemical changes and the reinforcing mechanism of fillers in the mixing process. In this paper, the relationship among the parameters of eight processes and filler network structure, tensile strength, chemical reinforcing effect and tear resistance was explored through experiments. The deep causes of performance changes caused by parameters were analyzed. Consequently, the best process condition and the ranking of the influencing factors for a certain performance was obtained. Furthermore, the best preparation process of natural rubber (NR)/carbon black/silica composite was achieved through comprehensive analysis.
Keywords: natural rubber; optimization; process parameters; serial modular continuous mixing; silica/carbon black.