Synthesis and properties of vinyl silane grafted styrene butadiene rubber through atom transfer radical polymerization in latex

A new well controllable vinyl silane grafted styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) was firstly prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in latex. The brominated SBR (SBR-Br) was prepared by the reaction between the SBR and N-bromosuccinimide (NBS), then vinyl silane grafted SBR with well-controlled branch chain was prepared by the ATRP initiated by SBR-Br. The best grafting condition was obtained, that is the reaction temperature and time were 70 °C and 12 h, the mass ratio of monomer: CuBr: dNbpy (4,4'-Dinonyl-2,2'-bipyridine) was 3: 0.02: 0.01. The SBR-Br and grafted SBR were characterized by ATR-FTIR and ¹H-NMR. The reaction kinetics study proved that the process of grafting reaction had active/controllable characteristics. The grafted yield of SBR could reach to 11.62%. The significant phase separation of grafted SBR was observed, and it also had a typical core–shell structure. The tensile strength of vinyltrimethylsilane grafted SBR were increased by 2.66 times than that of raw SBR.