Abstract
The effect of multifunctional additive (MFA) on filler dispersion in carbon-black- (CB) and silica-filled natural rubber (NR) compounds has been studied. Silica dispersion, measured by computer-aided image analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), showed a substantial improvement when MFA concentration is increased from 1 to 3 phr. After this level, there is a further but small improvement. However, for CB-filled NR compounds, CB dispersion showed a substantial improvement when the MFA used between 0 and 1 phr. As in silica-Filled NR compounds, there is only a small improvement in dispersion after 1 phr.