Filler blending for rubber formulations

A method for creating a blend of fillers for use in a rubber formulation, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a target loading value L desired for the rubber formulation;
• deciding upon n target intrinsic properties that are desired for the blend, where n is an integer greater than one;
• choosing a target intrinsic property value Xi for each of the n target intrinsic properties;
• picking n fillers suitable for use in creating the blend;
• providing, for each of the n target intrinsic properties, a mathematical relationship fi between the target loading value L, the target intrinsic property value Xi, the corresponding intrinsic property value xij, and the loading Lj of each of the n fillers from said picking step;
• and
• calculating the loading Lj for each of the n fillers from said picking step.

A method for creating a blend of fillers for use in a rubber formulation, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a target loading value L for the rubber formulation;
• deciding upon n target intrinsic properties that are desired for the blend, where n is an integer greater than one;
• choosing a target intrinsic property value Xi for each of the n target intrinsic properties;
• picking a loading value Lj for each of n fillers that will be used in creating the blend;
• choosing n−1 fillers with known intrinsic properties so as to leave one unidentified filler;
• providing, for each of the n target intrinsic properties, a mathematical relationship fi between the target loading value L, the target intrinsic property value Xi, the corresponding intrinsic property value xij, and the loading Lj of each of the n fillers from said picking step;
• calculating the corresponding intrinsic property values xij for the unidentified filler from said choosing step;
• and
• determining the identity of the unidentified filler from said choosing step by matching the intrinsic property values xij from said calculating step with a filler having substantially the same intrinsic property values xij as provided by said calculating step.