Removing surface weak boundary layer from polybutadiene rubber and polybutadiene/organoclay nanocompositeby silver(II)

Silver (II) was initially generated electrochemically for mediated electrochemical oxidation (MEO). In this oxidation method, silver(II)was used to oxidize the surface of vulcanized polybutadiene/organoclay nanocomposite (BRN) and polybutadiene rubber (BR). X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern along with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) pictures verified intercalated organoclay/Cloisite 20A morphology in the BRN matrix.Atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that surface roughness of both BR and BRN samples were drastically enhanced with a more prominent effect on BR. Finally, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs shown that weak boundary layer (WBL) on the rubbers surface was clearly removed after oxidation which was pronounced for BR