ABSTRACT
A carbon black filled elastomer should be regarded as a composite characterized by a "rubbery" continuous phase and a particulate "rigid" dispersed phase. The continuous phase is responsible for the "rubbery" behavior of the composite, while the filler plays a specific and important role in enhancing the various properties. In order to better define the "rubbery" behavior of the composite, it is necessary to refer to the theory of viscoelasticity. In the tire industry, which uses as much as 90% of the worldwide produced carbon black, the importance of the filler is essentially in the "reinforcement" of the end product: the vulcanized tire. It has been shown that strain dependency is much more important than the influence of frequency or temperature in distinguishing the reinforcing role of carbon black in polymeric compounds. The carbon black agglomerates dispersed in the polymeric media form a network, held together by van der Waals type forces.
