Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Nitrile Rubber Reinforced by Nano-SiO2: Molecular Dynamics Simulation

This paper investigated the mechanism of enhancing mechanical and tribological properties nitrile rubber (NBR) via addition nano-SiO2 on molecular scale. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed structure models pure NBR, NBR/SiO2, three-layer friction pairs. The results showed that hydrogen bonds interfacial interaction between NBR chains decreased fractional free volume nanocomposites increased shear modulus by 25% compared with NBR. During process, radius gyration effectively lowered peak atomic velocity, temperature, stress at interface copper atoms. average NBR/SiO2 was 34% lower than which meant significantly improved nano-SiO2. nano-SiO2-reinforcing a scale can lay theoretical foundation for design water-lubricated bearings.