Carbon black serves as a critical reinforcing agent for rubber products. In rubber-grade carbon black, approximately 75% is used to manufacture various types of tires, including automobile tires, tractor tires, aircraft tires, bicycle tires, and electric vehicle tires. The remaining portion is applied to produce other rubber products such as rubber hoses, belts, and shoes.

Carbon black exhibits excellent reinforcing properties, improving the wear resistance of tires, significantly extending their service life, and enhancing the physical and mechanical properties of rubber compounds, such as tensile strength and tear strength.

Carbon black serves as the primary pigment for black inks. High-quality pigment carbon black is widely used in printing inks, and its fundamental properties significantly influence the quality of both the inks and printed materials. Key requirements for carbon black in printing inks include blackness, hue, fluidity, viscosity, drying property, and thixotropy.

Coatings, commonly known as paints, rely on carbon black for its stability against chemicals, light, and heat—properties unmatched by other black inorganic pigments or organic black dyes. When incorporated into coatings, carbon black exhibits minimal chemical reactivity, high blackness, excellent weather resistance, and strong tinting strength.

High-grade pigment carbon black is used in synthetic resin paints as topcoats for car finishes, as well as decorative paints for bicycles, sewing machines, and instruments. Conductive carbon black, with its electrical conductivity, serves as a primer for water-based electrophoretic coatings.

Carbon black for plastics accounts for a significant proportion in non-rubber application fields. It not only serves as a coloring or toning agent but also functions to prevent UV aging, provide antistatic properties, or enhance conductivity. To ensure good dispersibility of carbon black in plastics, it is typically pre-dispersed in a medium, forming masterbatch (color masterbatch or color masterbatch pellets), which is then diluted with plastics in appropriate proportions.