In this study, the effect of petroleum resin on the mechanical strength, morphology, and vibration damping characteristics of natural rubber (NR) composites was observed. The NR composites plasticized by adding petroleum resin showed decreased hardness and mechanical properties. A morphology analysis indicated that as the amount of petroleum resin increased, carbon black aggregates (or agglomerates) observed at the fracture surface decreased, resulting in an improvement in the dispersibility. In addition, as 20 phr of petroleum resin was added, the effective damping temperature range increased by approximately 11.4%, the hysteresis loss rate increased by 15.2%, and the resilience decreased by 36.6%.
Therefore, it was confirmed that the vibration damping characteristics improved with the addition of petroleum resin. This was because the rubber–filler interaction between the NR molecular chain of the NR composite and the carbon black particles improved by the addition of petroleum resin.