RAJSHAHI UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

NAME OF STUDENT : JAHIDUL ISLAM ANIR

STUDENT ID : 2013034
DEPARTMENT : MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
COURSE TITLE : COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS AND ETHICS
COURSE NUMBER : MSE 1200

TITLE : CARBON BLACK: STRUCTURE, PROPERTIES AND USE

Title: Carbon black: structure, properties and use
Introduction: Carbon black is a general terms for an important family of product
used mainly for the reinforcement of rubber, as a black pigment and for it’s
electrically conductive properties. Carbon black is a very fineness fluffy powder
with high surface area. carbon black is a type of para-crystalline carbon that
processes practically fine-particle size that falls in to range of a few tars of
nanometers with high specific surface area.
For producing carbon black a number of processes have been used such as
incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter or petroleum
products including fuel oil, fluid catalyst cracking tar and ethylene cracking. Oil
furnace process produced about 95% of carbon black.
In carbon black the arrangement of carbon atom has been properly installed by
means of x-ray diffraction techniques,
which display diffuse rings at the equal
positions as diffraction ring from pure
graphite.
History of carbon black is very long. In the
time of ancient Egypt ‘soot ’ which is very
similar to carbon black is used in many
ways. Also in China bamboo strips are used.
In the second century Carbon black
production become a type of cottage Figure 1: Carbon Black
industry about the time when the
paper production was established. It then become widely used in industries after it
was produced with the channel process in 1892 and with the oil furnace method in
1947
It is the mostly used nano material, with particle dimensions ranging from tens to
few hundred nanometers (nm). Carbon black is mainly used in electric conductive
agents ,color, pigments, inks, elastomers, plastics and an electrically conductive
matters.
Structure and properties of carbon black:
Carbon black structure and properties could be perfectly measured using
transmission electron, microscopy. After observing under electron microscope
show that carbon black have a complicated structure , with some spheric particle
being together. Properties such as particle size distribution and aggregate size can
also be observed by electron microscopy.
Aggregation of carbon black are four basic groups
these are branched, linear, ellipsoidal and spheroidal.
It should be observed that carbon black has a portion
of these four types combined with the lower grade
having more ellipsoidal and spheroidal aggregates,
on the other hand the high-quality grade contains
mainly branched aggregates. Notably, the branched
and linear aggregates could potentially be broken
down to some extent within an intense mixing Figure 2:Electron microscope image of carbon black
attempt. Then again, it is impossible to break down
any microscope aggregate into monodispersed an individual particles.
In general, carbon blacks have the following properties:
➢ They exist in powder form and are odorless
➢ They have high melting and high boiling point
➢ Specific gravity varies between 1.8 to 2.18
➢ It is insoluble in water and is hence called hydrophobic
➢ It is highly combustible when it comes in contact with oxidizers
In carbon black microstructure , the size of spheric particles is called “particle size”
and the size of the particle chain is called “ structure” .In the surface of carbon black
many functional group are also found in the surface of carbon black . This
properties is called "surface chemistry”. So the leading characteristics of carbon
black are :
❖ Particles size distribution
❖ Pore size distribution and porosity
❖ Surface chemistry
❖ Structure
Particle size: The particle size of carbon blacks could be determined and measured
so precisely using transmission electron microscopy accompanying iodine number
and nitrogen surface area which in turn provide spotting of relative particle size.
Generally, the particle sizes range from 10 nm for furnace processing grains up 100
nm on average. In actual fact , the distribution of particle size turns out to play a
vital component in the performance and properties of carbon blacks. As an instance
to this, a wider particle size distribution could possess a lower surface area leading
to a less viscous product with applications in coatings, plastics and poor hysteresis
properties in rubbers.
Particle size has the larger effect in blackness and dispersibility when carbon is
mixed with resins and other particles. Commonly the smaller of particle size is the
higher the blackness of carbon become. High surface area is generally associated
with greater jetness, higher conductivity, improved weatherability, and higher
viscosity, but requires increased dispersion energy. Surface area is used in the
industry as an index of the fineness level of the carbon black and ,so, of the particle
size.

Figure3:Properties of carbon black

Structure: Highly structured carbon blacks provide higher viscosity, greater

electrical conductivity and easier dispersion for specialty carbon blacks. Measures
of aggregate structure may be obtained from shape distributions from EM analysis,
oil absorption (OAN) or void volume analysis.

the size of the structure also has a huge affects on the blackness and dispersibility
of carbon black ,overall , the increase of structure size enhance dispersibility but
lowers blackness. Carbon black with a larger structure in particular shows an good
conductive property.

The structure level of a carbon black eventually determines its effects on several
significant in-rubber properties. Increasing carbon black structure increases
modulus, hardness, electrical conductivity, and enhance dispersibility of carbon
black, but increases compound viscosity.

Porosity: This is a basic property of carbon black that can be controlled during the
production process. It can affect the measurement of surface area providing a total
surface area (NSA) larger than the external value (STSA).

Conductive specialty carbon blacks tend to have a high degree of porosity. On the
other hand , an increase in porosity also permit a rubber compounder to increase
carbon black loading while maintaining compound specific gravity. This leads to an
increase in compound modulus and electrical conductivity for a fixed loading.

Surface chemistry: The oxygen-containing groups present on a carbon black’s

surface is a function of the manufacturing process and the heat history of a carbon
black. Various functional groups exist on carbon black’s surface.
The affinity of carbon black with inks or paint varnishes changes depending on the
type and amount of the functional groups. In the surface of carbon black, a large
amount of hydroxyl group given with oxidation treatment, has a largely enhanced
affinity to print inks or varnishes, showing an excellent dispersibility . Pigment
wetting, dispersion, rheology and overall performance in selected system are
improved by oxidized surface.

Uses of carbon black:

Carbon black is a basic material which has a lot of application considering it’s
properties and characteristics. Since the days before the Christ, it has been used as
a coloring-agents such as inks, paints etc. Today it is applying in to new field such
as electronic equipment and devices as it is nano particles with various functions
such as ultra violet absorption and conductivity. Some application of carbon black
are shown below:

• Coloring agents for inks and paints: Being compared to iron black and organic
pigments carbon black has higher tinting strength for it has been using in
paper inks, printing inks, paints etc.
• Rubber product: Carbon black is basically used in rubber production
industries and non-rubber applications including coatings, inks, plastics, etc.
About 90% of carbon black application in rubber product are in two classes
,tires and mechanical rubber .The impact of rubber product is huge because
of the smaller the particle size, the higher the tensile strength and abrasion
resistance as well as the reduced rebound and dispersibility.
• Resin and film coloring agents: Carbon black is also very good for absorbing
ultraviolet light, providing both a superb resistance against ultraviolet rays
and a coloring effect when just a small amount is mixed with resins. In
automobiles bumpers, wire covering and steel pipe linking are used by
carbon black resin.

• Electric conductive agents: The graphite type

crystalline structure is in the carbon particles
which providing an excellent electric
conductivity. carbon black is generally used as
conductive filler, being mixed in plastics,
elastomer, paints, adhesives, films, and
pastes etc.

Figure 4: Uses of carbon black

References:

1. http://www.carbonblack.jp/en/cb/tokusei.html
2. https://nanografi.com/blog/carbon-black-properties-and-applications/
3. https://www.birlacarbon.com/whats-trending/carbon-black/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_black
5. https://doi.org/10.1002/0471238961.0301180204011414.a01.pub2