Rubber-reinforced rubbers toward the combination of high reinforcement and low energy loss

Reinforcement is a fundamental issue in rubber science and engineering. Traditionally, rubber reinforcement relies on the incorporation of rigid particles into rubber network or creation of the rubber network with dual-crosslink. However, all these methods inevitably sacrifice the unique elasticity of rubber, which is a shackle toward some crucial applications such as energy-saving tires. In this contribution, a novel strategy of rubber-reinforced rubber (3R) with the combination of significant reinforcement and high elasticity is proposed. With experimental/simulating integrated method, a brand-new reinforcing mechanism for rubber is disclosed, called soft matrix-induced large extensionability of hard rubber (“SMILE-HR”). The soft matrix endows the highly-crosslinked rubber particles (HPs) with the capacity of large extensionablity, so the molecular chains in HPs can be highly oriented and thus obtain high strength during stretching, which are primarily responsible for the dramatic reinforcement of 3R. This skillful combination of these two elastic constituents conquers the stubborn contradiction between reinforcement and elasticity, which is very promising for the engineering rubbers served in dynamic environment.