Sunkeun Kim

Sunkeun was born in South Korea and studied chemical engineering for his BSc and MSc with thesis title 'Properties of nanocomposite of maleated EPDM/Organoclay and microcellular foam in supercritical CO2'. Until 2017, he worked in industries in two fields: the development of new polymer systems, eg, S-SBR for tire application, and setting up suitable process conditions for the new compounds. In April 2018, He joined the ETE group at the University of Twente and is currently working as a PhD researcher on the topic of 'Nanostructured self-assembled functional materials'.

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Presentation

Innovative surface pre-treatment techniques for silica as a reinforcing filler

Silica-silane is a commonly used filler system in elastomer technology. However, there are drawbacks to this technology: processing of the silica-filled compounds is elaborate, and this filler system does not work properly for all elastomers and applications. To overcome these drawbacks, alternative surface pre-treatment techniques were developed based on various precursors to improve compatibility with the polymer and the ability to form a filler-polymer network. The surface modifications were studied in terms of deposition degree, surface morphology and functionalities. Processibility, mechanical and dynamic properties of compounds containing the modified fillers were evaluated.