Preparation and properties of natural rubber/organo-montmorillonite: from lab samples to bulk material
Focusing on application aspects of the rubber nanocomposites and the production and testing of industrial-sized samples, this study was performed in two phases. First, natural rubber (NR)/organo-montmorillonite (OMMT) nanocomposites containing 2–14 phr OMMT were prepared on a laboratory-sized two-ro...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Society of Chemists and Technologists of Macedonia
2014-09-01
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| Series: | Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://mjcce.org.mk/index.php/MJCCE/article/view/502 |
| Summary: | Focusing on application aspects of the rubber nanocomposites and the production and testing of industrial-sized samples, this study was performed in two phases. First, natural rubber (NR)/organo-montmorillonite (OMMT) nanocomposites containing 2–14 phr OMMT were prepared on a laboratory-sized two-roll mill. The vulcanization behavior and mechanical properties of NR/OMMT composites were compared with a referent NR compound containing 60 phr carbon black (N330) as a reinforcing filler. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses showed a predominant intercalated structure for all OMMT nanocomposites. As a result, the organoclay behaved as an effective reinforcement for NR, even at loadings as low as 2 phr. This nanocomposite exhibited an improvement in tensile strength of 29% and in elongation at break of 61% in comparison with the referent NR/N330 compound. With the estimated optimal filler content, in the second phase, bulk NR/OMMT-5/steel samples were successfully produced for dynamic testing. The dynamic moduli were investigated by the method of forced vibrations. Compared to the NR/N 330 samples, NR/OMMT-5 samples showed improved hysteresis, with very low dissipating energy per cycle and significantly reduced Mullins effect. |
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| ISSN: | 1857-5552 1857-5625 |