Question

An article in Rubber Chemistry and Technology described an experiment to study the effect of several variables on the Mooney viscosity of rubber, including of silica filler (parts per hundred) and oil filler (parts per hundred). Two silica fillers and two oil fillers are chosen. Two parts are tested with each combination of the factor.

What type of experimental design has been used?

Answer 1

The described experiment is a factorial design, specifically a 2x2 factorial design with replication, since it investigates two levels of two factors (silica and oil fillers) and tests each combination twice.

Step-by-step explanation:

The experimental design described appears to be a factorial design, which is a type of experiment used to evaluate the effects of multiple factors and possibly their interactions on a response variable—in this case, the Mooney viscosity of rubber. Since the study involves two levels of silica filler and two levels of oil filler, it seems to be a 2x2 factorial design with replication, as there are two parts tested with each combination of factors. This allows the researchers to not only see the individual effect of each type of filler but also to observe how these fillers interact with each other to affect the viscosity.