Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-22T13:19:06.104Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Variation of Solvent Scattering-Length Density in Small-Angle Neutron Scattering as a Means of Determining Structure of Composite Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

Rex P. Hjelm ,
Wesley Wampler  and
Michel Gerspacher
Rex P. Hjelm
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
Wesley Wampler
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
Michel Gerspacher
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
Get access

Abstract

As part of our work on the structure of composite materials we have been exploring the use of small-angle neutron scattering using the method of contrast variation to dissect the component form, structure and distribution. This approach has resulted in a new look at very old problemreinforcement of elastomers by carbon black.

Using this approach we studied an experimental high surface area (HSA) carbon black and a gel of "HSA-bound" rubber in cyclohexane/deuterocyclohexane mixtures. HSA in cyclohexane is found to be short rodlike particle aggregates. The aggregates have a shell-core structure with a high density graphitic outer shell and an inner core of lower density amorphous carbon. The core is continuous throughout the carbon black aggregate, making the aggregate a stiff, integral unit. Contrast variation of swollen composite gels shows that there are two length scales in the gel structure. Above 10 Å, scattering from carbon black predominates, and below 10 Å the scattering is from both carbon black and the elastomer. The HSA in the composite is completely embedded in polyisoprene. An estimate of the carbon black structure factor shows strong exclusion of neighboring aggregates, probably from excluded volume effects. The surface structure of the carbon black is unaltered by the interactions with elastomer and appears smooth over length scales above about 10 Å. These results show that contrast variation can provide information on composite structure that is not available by other means. This information relates to the reinforcement mechanism of elastomers by carbon blacks.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 376: Symposium BB – Neutron Scattering in Materials Science , 1994 , 303
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1 Hess, W.M. and Hurd, C.R., in Carbon Black, edited by Donnet, J.-B., Bansal, R.C., and Wang, M.-J. ( Dekker, Nev York, 1993) pp 91 - 106, and references there in.Google Scholar
2 Hjelm, R.P., Wampler, W., and Seeger, P.A., Polym. & Polym. Comp., 1, 53A - 70A, (1993).Google Scholar
3 Hjelm, R.P., Wampler, W., Seeger, P.A., and Gerspamher, M., J. Materials Res., (in press).Google Scholar
4 Wignall, G.D., Farrar, N.R., and Morris, S., J. Mater. Sci., 25, 69 - 75 (1990).Google Scholar
5 Wu, W.-I., Polymer, 23 , 1907–1912 (1982).Google Scholar
6 Young, R.J., Al-Khudhairy, D.H.A., and Thomas, A.G., J. Mater. Sci., 21, 1211–1218 (1986).Google Scholar
7 Stuhrmann, H.B. and Duee, E.E., J. Appl. Cryst., 8 , 538–542 (1975).Google Scholar
8 Stuhrmann, H.B., Haas, J., Ibel, K., Koch, M.H.J., and Crichton, R.R., J. Mol. Biol., 100, 399–413 (1976).Google Scholar
9 Ibel, K., and Stuhrmann, H.B., J. Mol. Biol., 93, 255–265 (1975).Google Scholar
10 Gruber, T.C., Zerda, T.W., and Gerspacher, M., Carbon, 31, 1209–1210 (1993).Google Scholar
11 Donnet, J.-B. and Custodéro, E., in Carbon Black, edited by Donnet, J.-B., Bansal, R.C., and Wang, M.-J. (Dekker, Nev York, 1993) pp 221–227; Carbon, 30 , 813-815 (1992)Google Scholar
12 Zerda, T.W., Yang, H., and Gerspacher, M., Rubber Chem. & Tech., 65 , 130–138 (1992).Google Scholar