ABSTRACT
Reinforcing fillers are added to elastomeric materials to enhance mechanical properties such as the modulus, strength and wear resistance. Elastomers deform to large strains under load and recover to their original shape upon unloading. Reinforcing fillers such as carbon-black are added to elastomers to increase mechanical properties like the modulus, strength and the wear resistance. The reinforcement of elastomers by carbon-black fillers was originally investigated by Guth & Gold and Smallwood. The 2D interfacial slippage models show that when slippage occurs at the rubber filler interface the elastomeric response become softer. Despite the extensive use of carbon black filled elastomers in practice, the actual reinforcement mechanisms present in filled elastomers are still not fully understood. The interfacial slippage gave the best correlation with experimental data. This shows that a realistic rubber-filler model should include a component to demonstrate how the rubber can slip over the filler surface.
