Rubber composition and article

1. A rubber composition comprising:

a rubber containing ethylenic unsaturation;

core-shell particles comprising a core comprising a poly(arylene ether), and a shell comprising an ethylenically unsaturated copolymer; wherein the core-shell particle comprises about 20 to about 80 weight percent of the poly(arylene ether) and about 20 to about 80 weight percent of the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer; and

a vulcanizing agent;

wherein the rubber composition is vulcanizable.

2. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the rubber containing ethylenic unsaturation is chosen from natural rubbers, synthetic rubbers, and mixtures thereof.

3. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the rubber containing ethylenic unsaturation comprises a diene-based synthetic rubber.

4. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the poly(arylene ether) comprises repeating structural units having the formula

wherein for each structural unit, each Z 1 is independently halogen, primary or secondary C 1 -C 12 alkyl, C 1 -C 12 aminoalkyl, C 1 -C 12 hydroxyalkyl, phenyl, C 1 -C 12 haloalkyl, C 1 -C 12 hydrocarbyloxy, or C 2 -C 12 halohydrocarbyloxy wherein at least two carbon atoms separate the halogen and oxygen atoms; and each Z 2 is independently hydrogen, halogen, primary or secondary C 1 -C 12 alkyl, C 1 -C 12 aminoalkyl, C 1 -C 12 hydroxyalkyl, phenyl, C 1 -C 12 haloalkyl, C 1 -C 12 hydrocarbyloxy, or C 2 -C 12 halohydrocarbyloxy wherein at least two carbon atoms separate the halogen and oxygen atoms.

5. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the poly(arylene ether) comprises a homopolymer of 2,6-dimethylphenol, a copolymer of 2,6-dimethylphenol and 2,3,6-trimethylphenol, or a mixture thereof.

6. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer comprises about 2 to about 60 weight percent of at least one first segment and about 40 to about 98 weight percent of at least one second segment.

7. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer is chosen from polystyrene-polyisoprene diblock copolymers, polystyrene-polyisoprene-polystyrene triblock copolymers, polystyrene-polybutadiene diblock copolymers, polystyrene-polybutadiene-polystyrene triblock copolymers, poly(arylene ether)-polyisoprene diblock copolymers, poly(arylene ether)-polybutadiene diblock copolymers, poly(arylene ether)-polyisoprene-poly(arylene ether) triblock copolymers, poly(arylene ether)-polybutadiene-poly(arylene ether) triblock copolymers, polystyrene-polybutadiene graft copolymers, polystyrene-polyisoprene graft copolymers, poly(arylene ether)-polybutadiene graft copolymers, poly(arylene ether)-polyisoprene graft copolymers, maleic-anhydride-grafted derivatives of the foregoing polymers, partially hydrogenated derivatives of the foregoing copolymers, and mixtures thereof.

8. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer comprises a polystyrene-polyisoprene-polystyrene triblock copolymer.

9. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the core-shell particles comprise less than 10 weight percent of particles or aggregates having a dimension greater than 100 micrometers.

10. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the core has an average diameter of about 10 nanometers to about 10 micrometers, and the shell has an average thickness of about 1 to about 500 nanometers.

11. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the core-shell particles comprise about 40 to about 80 weight percent of the poly(arylene ether) and about 20 to about 60 weight percent of the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer.

12. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the core-shell particles have a surface area of about 10 to about 500 square meters per gram.

13. The rubber composition of claim 1 , comprising about 1 to about 70 parts by weight of the core-shell particles per 100 parts by weight total of the rubber containing ethylenic unsaturation and the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer.

14. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the vulcanizing agent is chosen from elemental sulfur, amine disulfides, polymeric polysulfides, sulfur olefin adducts, and mixtures thereof.

15. The rubber composition of claim 1 , wherein the core-shell particles are grafted to the rubber through polysulfide linkages.

16. The rubber composition of claim 1 , further comprising about 1 to about 50 weight percent of a filler chosen from precipitated silica, fumed silica, carbon black, and mixtures thereof, wherein the weight percent of filler is based on the total weight of the composition.

17. A rubber composition comprising:

a rubber containing ethylenic unsaturation, chosen from natural rubber, styrene-butadiene random copolymers, polybutadienes, polyisoprenes, and mixtures thereof;

core-shell particles comprising a core comprising a poly(arylene ether), and a shell comprising an ethylenically unsaturated copolymer; wherein the poly(arylene ether) comprises a homopolymer of 2,6-dimethylphenol, a copolymer of 2,6-dimethylphenol and 2,3,6-trimethylphenol, or a mixture thereof; wherein the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer comprises polystyrene-polyisoprene diblock copolymer, a polystyrene-polyisoprene-polystyrene triblock copolymer, or a mixture thereof; wherein the core-shell particle comprises about 20 to about 80 weight percent of the poly(arylene ether) and about 20 to about 80 weight percent of the ethylenically unsaturated copolymer; and wherein the core-shell particles have a surface area of about 10 to about 500 square meters per gram; and

a vulcanizing agent chosen from elemental sulfur, amine disulfides, polymeric polysulfides, sulfur olefin adducts, and mixtures thereof;

wherein the rubber composition is vulcanizable.

18. A vulcanized rubber composition obtained by vulcanizing the vulcanizable rubber composition of claim 1 .

19. A vulcanized rubber composition obtained by vulcanizing the vulcanizable rubber composition of claim 17 .

20. An article comprising the vulcanized composition of claim 18 .

21. An article comprising the vulcanized composition of claim 19 .