China Clay (Kaolin) for Rubber Industry

 A significant amount of China Clay (Kaolin) is used for filling the rubbers to improve the resistance to abrasion and strength. To achieve this, the Kaolin must be complete kaolinite without any other impurities. In other words, China Clay is a preferable additive to rubber because of its “booklet” particle structure that enhances the stiffness and mechanical strength to the rubber product through high-quality stress transfer.

In the rubber products industries, kaolin is an affordable (in terms of cost) substitute for precipitated silica without losing the actual physical properties. The main purpose to add China Clay in rubber production is to improve the tensile strength. Soft China Clays have greater grain sizes 7 used where high loading & faster extrusion rate are essential than mechanical and tensile strength. While on the other end, the Hard China Clay imparts high modulus, stiffness, abrasion resistance and tensile strength.

Water-washed clay is nowadays used in the variety of applications like cable manufacturing as it offers strong reinforcement and higher volume resistivity. While the regular China Clay is used in conveyor belts, footwear, and molds. And the high-end China Clay is used in tire production.