Effect of Defatted Rice Bran, Calcium Carbonate and Clay on Properties of Cellular Natural Rubber

Abstract

The effects of defatted rice bran (DRB) as a filler for cellular natural rubber (NR) vulcanizate on its cell morphology, water absorption and mechanical properties were investigated. The properties of the DRB-filled cellular NR vulcanizate were also compared with clay-filled and CaCO 3 -filled cellular NR vulcanizates at similar loading level (30 parts per hundred of rubber). Scanning electron micrographs revealed that the greater cell size was observed when cellular NR vulcanizates were filled with all types of filler. The DRB-filled cellular NR vulcanizate exhibited better and more uniform dispersion of cellular cell structure as compared to CaCO 3 -filled and Clay-filled cellular NR vulcanizates.Moreover,the DRB-filled cellular NR vulcanizate gave the highest water absorption value, tensile strength and 100%modulus as compared to CaCO 3 -filled and Clay-filled cellular NR vulcanizates. The elongation at break of DRB-filled cellular NR vulcanizate was found to be comparable to that of CaCO 3 -filled cellular NR vulcanizate . However, the cellular NR vulcanizate filled with DRB showed the lowest hardness value.According to these observations, DRB can potentially be used as acheap and more environment-friendly natural filler for cellular natural rubber.