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Bound rubber in carbon black (CB) filled rubber (natural rubber (NR) and styrene–butadiene rubber (SBS)) was prepared by the solvent method. The nanomorphology of CB and rubber/CB soluble rubber was observed by atomic force microscope. The results show that high-structure CB DZ13 has a "grape cluster" structure which consists of many original particles with the grain size of about 30–50 nm. Graphitizing process of CB decreases the amount of bound rubber. The NR/DZ13 soluble rubber with island–rim structure has been obtained, where the islands are DZ13 particles and the rims around the islands are occupied by NR film. But when the graphitized DZ13 particles were used as fillers of rubber, we have only observed that some graphitized DZ13 particles were deposited on the surface of the globular-like NR molecular chains, instead of the spreading of NR molecular chains along the surface of DZ13 particles, indicating that graphitized DZ13 has lower chemical activity than ungraphitized DZ13. Especially, we have already observed an interesting unusual bound rubber phenomenon, the blocked "bracelet" structure with the diameter of about 600 nm in which CB particles were blocked in ring-shaped SBS monomer.

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The study of crack propagation in rubber has a very high economic significance but is still not well understood. For this purpose the main objective of this work is to study the fracture behavior of two types of rubber: the NR, which crystallizes under stress and the noncrystallizing SBR. To study the cracking behavior of materials we have made tests of cracking follow-up. The mode of crack propagation has been studied in terms of fillers ratio and traction speed. The unfilled SBR and NR showed simple lateral propagation independently of the test speed, whereas the mode of cracking of filled materials was very influenced by the parameters mentioned previously. The filled SBR can present important deviations of the crack when the fillers ratio is sufficiently high; this deviation is even more pronounced when the speed increases. On the other hand, the natural rubber which crystallizes under stress showed particular mode of propagation characterized by the appearance of longitudinal cracks. This mode of cracking is much more important at low speeds than at the high speeds. It is proposed that the fillers increase the breaking strength of a noncrystallizing material and allows that the crack takes a deviated way if the fillers ratio is sufficiently high. But if it is a material which crystallize like the NR, crystallization and fillers will act simultaneously and the material will be much more resistant which gives rise to a particular mechanism which is the appearance of the longitudinal cracks before the catastrophic rupture.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has the advantage of obtaining mechanical properties as well as topographic information at the same time. By analyzing force-distance curves measured over two-dimensional area using Hertzian contact mechanics, Young's modulus mapping was obtained with nanometer-scale resolution. Furthermore, the sample deformation by the force exerted was also estimated from the force-distance curve analyses. We could thus reconstruct a real topographic image by incorporating apparent topographic image with deformation image. We applied this method to carbon black reinforced natural rubber to obtain Young's modulus distribution image together with reconstructed real topographic image. Then we were able to recognize three regions; rubber matrix, carbon black (or bound rubber) and intermediate regions. Though the existence of these regions had been investigated by pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance, this paper would be the first to report on the quantitative evaluation of the interfacial region in real space.

Nanotechnology offers fundamentally new capabilities to architect a broad array of novel materials, composites and structures on a molecular scale. It is potentially capable of redefining the methods used for developing lighter, stronger, high-performance structures and processes with unique and nontraditional properties. This review summarizes different classes of nanocarbon-based polymer composites and their applications. Also, it highlights different ways to create smaller, cheaper, lighter and faster devices using nanocarbon-based polymer composites. The potential applications of such materials are in the fields of membrane, aviation, electronics, polymer composites, as well as the marine and transport industries. A detailed description of nanocarbon-based composite materials manufactured from PE, PP, PS, PS, PVC, PPS, ABS, PMMA, nitrile rubber, etc. is also reviewed. Some of the major applications of carbon-based polymer nanocomposites are in the tyre industry, semiconductors, and many more, which has brought about the new, developing and exciting research field called nanoscience.

The mixed LiMn₂O₄ and carbon black were served as anodes for lithium-ion batteries and the samples with high active material utilization ratio showed the highest capacity and cycling retention of 407.0 mAh/g after 50 charge/discharge cycles. The galvanostatic cycling and electrochemical impedance measurements were used to study their electrochemical performances. The commercial carbon black showed higher cycling retention, 162.0 mAh/g after 50 charge/discharge cycles. The present results confirmed that the capacity and cycling retention of LiMn₂O₄ anodes can be improved by the increase of conductivity in lithium-ion batteries, which can increase the utilization ratio of active materials.

Two kinds of carbon black (CB) (i.e., CB#300 and CB#3350) were added into poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP), respectively, to improve its piezoelectricity. The results revealed that when 0.5 wt.% CB was added, the best performance of the PVDF-HFP/CB composite films was obtained. The calibrated open circuit voltage and the density of harvested power of 0.5 wt.% CB#3350 contained composite films were 204%, and 464% (AC) and 561% (DC) of those of neat PVDF-HFP films. Similarly, for 0.5 wt.% CB#300 contained films, they were 211%, and 475% (AC) and 624% (DC), respectively. The enhancement mechanisms of piezoelectricity were clarified by the observation of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). We found that the added CBs act as nucleate agents to promote the formation of elongated, oriented and fibrillar β-phase crystals during the fabrication process, which increase the piezoelectricity. Overdosed CBs lead to a lower crystallinity degree, resulting in the lower piezoelectricity. Compared with CB#3350, CB#300 performs slightly better, which may be ascribed to its higher specific surface area.

In this study, carbon black (CB) powder-loaded polyurethane (PU) composites (CB–PU composites) were prepared by melt mixing method with different volume percentages (45, 50, 55, 58 and 61 vol.%) of CB in the PU matrix. The prepared CB–PU composites had been further studied for surface morphology using the field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) technique. Dielectric properties in terms of real permittivity ($𝜀\prime )$ and imaginary permittivity ($𝜀\prime \prime )$ of the fabricated composites were computed using an Agilent E8364B vector network analyzer in the frequency range of 8–12 GHz ($X$-band). Dielectric loss factor of the prepared CB–PU composites was computed in terms of the dielectric loss tangent (tan ${\delta }_e$ = $𝜀\prime \prime$/$𝜀\prime )$. Microwave absorbing properties were appraised in terms of the reflection loss (RL) which in turn was calculated for varying thicknesses of the prepared composites from the measured real and imaginary permittivity data. The minimum RL was observed as −20.10 dB for the absorber with a thickness of 2.2 mm and the bandwidth achieved was 1.92 GHz for RL $\le -$10 dB. Based on the above results these CB–PU composites have potential use as effective microwave absorbers in 8–12-GHz ($X$-band) frequency range.

There are mines of elemental carbon such as graphite. It is the most stable form of elemental carbon at 25°C, under 1 atm (Section 3.7). A second form of pure or nearly pure elemental carbon is represented by diamonds (Section 3.12). Other forms of elemental carbon are produced by combustion or heat treatment of wood (Section 3.6), bio-polymers such as paper, cotton (cellulose), or synthetic polymers such as viscose (Section 11.10.1) and polyacrylonitrile (Section 8.2.7). Nanoparticles such as graphene (Section 3.7), fullerenes (Section 3.8), nanotubes (Section 3.9), and quantum dots of carbon (Section 3.10) are available that find biomedical applications and are used in the manufacture of nanometric objects useful for electronics, optoelectronics, photophysics, energy and the environment protection. Nanoparticles must be handled with care as they can be toxic…

Supercapacitors were fabricated by employing nanosized carbon black (NCB) powders and studied in an aqueous electrolyte. The capacitor properties were studied by means of electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry and constant current charge/discharge. Specific capacitance of these carbon materials, power density and energy density of the supercapacitor were derived from constant current charge/discharge tests. AC impedance technique was employed to deduce the ESR (equivalent series resistance) value and the frequency dependent capacitance. A high specific capacitance of 40 F/g was achieved using the above nanosized carbons in a symmetric electrode configuration.