Effect of coupling agents and ionic liquid on the properties of novel rice bran carbon/carboxylated styrene butadiene rubber composites fabricated by latex compounding method Yinhang Zhang, Xiangxu Li, Xin Ge, Fei Deng and Ur Ryong Cho* School of Energy, Materials and Chemical Engineering, Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan, 330708, Republic of Korea * Corresponding author: Phone: 82-41-560-1340; Fax: 82-41-560-1224; Email:urcho@kut.ac.kr ABSTRACT Latex compounding method (LCM) was applied to ensure a better dispersion state of filler in rubber matrix. In order to enhance the carboxylated-styrene butadiene rubber (XSBR)/rice bran carbon (RBC) compatibility and interfacial interaction, a series of coupling agents i.e., N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane(AAPTS), 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS), 4,4-methylene bis (phenyl isocyanate) (MDI) and ionic liquid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate(HMIMPF6) were applied. Morphology of the fracture surface, mechanical property, thermal stability, vulcanization and dynamic mechanical property were investigated. The measurements on the resulted composites demonstrated that the MDI exhibited the superior reinforcement, in which the tensile strength and 300% modulus reached to 16.43 and 16.33 MPa, respectively. The study on fracture surface, Raman spectrum, thermal stability and storage modulus confirmed the strong interfacial interaction resulted from MDI. In addition, ionic liquid also exhibited a coupling activity that improved the mechanical properties but with lower thermal stability to the composites due to the special reaction mechanism. Keywords: coupling agents, ionic liquid, carboxylated styrene butadiene rubber, composites, latex compounding method