ABSTRACT
The structure of the material is represented as a volume filled with fractal clusters consisting of spherical inclusions. The fractal parameters of clusters and their number per volume unit can be determined from the analysis of AFM micro-images of rubber surfaces (Morozov 2013). Figure 1 presents
1 INTRODUCTION
Filler reinforcement of rubber is caused by the formation of a continuous filler network and strong interfacial interactions (Krauss 1978, Fukahori 2004, Dietmar 1992). Investigations indicate that at a distance of 2 nm from the surface of inclusions a polymer is in a glassy state, then its elastic modulus decreases in a non-linear fashion, and at a distance of 10 nm a polymer converts into a binder state. In paper (Long et al. 2001), the authors suggested that this behavior could be used to change the glass transition temperature of a polymer near the particle active surface. The present paper describes the results of numerical simulation of the behavior of filler network at the structural level carried out using finite element techniques. Based on these results, a model is developed for evaluating the degree of reinforcement of a composite. The model is a volume (parallelepiped) filled by fractal clusters. Structural parameters (particle sizes, cluster fractal parameters) are obtained from the analysis of the AFM images of materials (Morozov et al. 2012, 2013). Spherical inclusions occurring in clusters are stuck together with elastic bonds, and their properties are dependent on the space between inclusions.
