Fatty acid modified cellulose: Preparation and application as green multi‐functional additive in a tyre tread formulation

The increasing demand for biomass‐derived material and its usage in different forms in various commercial applications has become a need for sustainability. In this context, cellulose, the most abundant biodegradable material is modified (FAC) and used in tyre tread formulation. The potential of FAC is appraised against the lubricating nature of process oil due to its restricted usage for the presence of toxic polycyclic aromatic materials. In addition to that, Silane coupling agent is also replaced by FAC to assess its potency as a coupling agent. Multi‐functional nature of FAC is evaluated through morphological, rheological, physicomechanical, and dynamic‐mechanical means. Total replacement of oil with FAC has induced ~30–40% improvement in static modulus across elongation %age. Furthermore, improvement in grip properties (6%) along with a reduction in hysteresis loss (11%) is also portrayed by the composite having a complete substitution of oil by FAC. The efficacy of FAC as a potential replacement for SCA is also evaluated in this study. Replacement of 66% of SCA along with the complete substitution of oil with FAC has depicted comparable physicomechanical, dynamic as well as flow behavior with respect to the reference one. The introduction of fibrous structure along with intermolecular covalent bonding has reinforced FAC with multifunctional behavior. Thus, this multi‐functional behavior of FAC (reinforcing, dispersing, and coupling) can easily be applied in commercial tyre formulation facilitating a breakthrough in cheap and high‐performance biomass‐derived rubber composite.