Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) is a general purpose elastomer with wide application in automotive tires components, conveyer belts, electrical wires, cables and many other industrial products.1 Satisfactory performance of these products demand good mechanical properties, improved tear & abrasion resistance, low heat build-up, high thermal stability and resistance to heat, ozone, oil etc.2 Poor gum strength and inferior properties of neat SBR are conventionally overcome by the incorporation of requisite amounts of reinforcing fillers depending on the specific requirements of the product. Its blending with other elastomers like natural rubber (NR), polybutadiene rubber (BR) is another alternative to achieve the desired set of properties necessary…show more content… Similarly another work by Bharadwaj and others8 on the preparation and properties of organomodified hectorite highlights the potentiality of hectorite as an effective reinforcing filler. Bokobza et al.9 reported substantial rise in mechanical and electrical properties of SBR by using small amount of MWNT as compared to conventional carbon black. De Falco et al.3 used the method of sonication followed by filtration through nylon filter membrane to separate the aggregates in MWCNT. SBR/MWCNT nanocomposites prepared with 0.66 wt. % of this purified MWCNT was observed to show significant enhancement in static and dynamic mechanical properties on account of homogeneous filler dispersion. Peddini et al.10 used a specific surface modification technique to ensure homogeneous and discrete dispersion of MWCNTs in SBR matrix up to a level of 15 wt. %. This reportedly resulted in improvement in various mechanical properties - improvement being manifold when it is used in combination with carbon black.11 First report on significant advantages of using nanoclay in SBR compounds is by Gopi et al.12 who have demonstrated that partial replacement of carbon black by organoclay in a typical tire tread formulation imparts better rolling resistance, and reduces heat build up. This is perhaps the first case of hybrid filler based SBR nanocomposite. A similar report by Dong et al.13 on MWCNT/ carbon black system highlights the advantages of such hybrid fillers over single fillers in respect of mechanical properties and fracture