Title: FILLED ELASTOMER COMPRISING POLYURETHANE

 Number/Link: WO2013004714

Applicant/Assignee: BASF  (Chinese priority)

Publication date: 10-01-2013

“Gist”: “Raw” rubber is vulcanized in the presence of  precipitated silica (preferred) which has been modified with an isocyanate prepolymer (pref) containing a hydrophobic and/or rubber-reactive moiety.

Why it is interesting: The rubber can be NR, BR, SBR, IIR, EPDM, etc which is vulcanized in the conventional manner in the presence of a filler, preferably a fumed or precipitated silica.  The filler has been mixed with an isocyanate-ended prepolymer prepared from a 2000 MW polyol and a di-isocyanate.  The polyol preferably contains a hydrophobic group (e.g. from a fatty acid) or a double bond (from a unsaturated diacid).  As a result the filler will be dispersed more finely and will have a strong rubber interachtion potentially greatly improving the rubber properties.  Useful for footwear e.g.

Vulcanized Rubber Boots (Wikipedia)