ABSTRACT
Nano scaled materials have improved mechanical properties compared to the
conventional ones due to their extremely large surface areas. Nano silicon carbide,
nano zinc oxide, nano clays, nano starch and nano alumina can be named among
many others. The nanocrystalline diamond powder used in this study as rubber
reinforcing material has been synthesized by explosive detonation, a method that
gained importance since the mid 1980s. Free carbon atoms are released when an
explosive deficient in oxygen, usually a TNT/RDX (trinitrotoluene/hexogene) mixture, is
detonated in a preservative material. Nano-sized diamond crystallites are formed by
coagulation and rearrangement of these carbon atoms under the high temperature and
high pressure condition produced by the detonation reaction. Diamond powder
synthesized by explosive detonation has a particle size in the range 1-15 nm. It is well
known that particle size of a filler must be lower than 100 nm in order to have a
reinforcing effect in rubber compounds. Thus, nanocrystalline diamond powder has a
great potential, as a rubber reinforcing material, provided that it is well dispersed and
can be attached to the polymer molecules. In the present study diamond powder is
added to a rubber formulation used on tank pallets at varying phr (parts per hundred
parts of rubber, by weight) values. The change in physical and mechanical properties of
the compound has been investigated and considerable improvement is observed in
abrasion resistance even at low phr levels.