Carbon Black Properties

The information below provides a basic description of the various tests used to characterize and estimate carbon black's general performance in elastomeric compounds.

Iodine No.
A test useful in characterizing and relates to the surface area.

Nitrogen Surface Area
A test method used to measure the surface area that is available to the Nitrogen molecule.

Oil Absorption [OAN]
A measurement of structure [the degree of interlinking among carbon black aggregates] as measured by oil absorption. The higher the value, the higher the structure.

Toluene Discoloration
Transmittance, at 425 nm, of the filtrate obtained from Toluene extract, compared to pure Toluene.

Tint
A relative particle-size indicator. The higher the number, the smaller the black particle and the greater its hiding power.

Heating Loss
The percentage of moisture remaining in the product after pelletizing and drying.

Sieve Residue
The level of contaminants remaining in the product determined by water-washing a sample through a standard size screen, in ppm.

Fines
The portion of pellets that passes through a standard screen size when shaken in a mechanical sieve shaker.

Density
The mass per unit volume of pellets.