Abstract
Fifty wt % of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) was blended with a conventional rubber compound to examine its effect on mechanical properties of the resulting composite, through the comparison with carbon black N234 and MWCNT/carbon black N234 (1/1) mixture as references. MWCNT resulted in a significant increase of elastic modulus, compared with N234. It was revealed from microscopic surface analysis that a low dispersion of MWCNT in the rubber matrix was one of the causes of this favourable effect. The low dispersion of MWCNT, oppositely, brought about lower fracture elongation and fracture strength than in the case of N234. The MWCNT/N234 mixture showed just intermediate effects between MWCNT and N234.
