Abstract
Epoxidised natural rubber, ENR has emerged as a sustainable material for many applications due to its unique properties. This study sets out to investigate the effects of ENR on the oil resistance property of nitrile rubber, NBR composites used for safety footwear application. Blends of NBR/ENR i.e. 100/0, 90/10, 80/20, 70/30, 60/40 and 50/50 were prepared and tested for their oil resistance property and other physical properties such as hardness, tensile properties and abrasion loss. Results showed that varying the amount of ENR did not significantly affect the hardness and tensile properties of the composites. Nonetheless, it was found that ENR content highly influences the abrasion loss of the composites in which the abrasion resistance decreased with further addition of ENR contents. Despite the increase in oil swelling of the composites with increasing ENR content, the oil swelling values are considered low (< 5% volume change), indicating superior oil resistance property of the composites. These results confirm the possibility of ENR as a sustainable material for the production of eco-friendly composites with high oil resistance property for the footwear industry.
Highlights
Safety footwear is a type of personal protective equipment (PPE) that is very important as it protects employees, usually those working in the heavy industry from impact, compression, dangerous chemicals, hot or slippery surfaces and other work-related hazards [1]
A similar observation can be seen with the elongation at break in which the elongation at break was higher with composites containing Epoxidised natural rubber (ENR)
The elongation at break of pure nitrile rubber (NBR) composite (381 %) was increased up to 436 % with the addition of 50 phr ENR content. These results are in agreement with a previous study on ENR/NBR blends whereby blends with higher ENR content showed higher tensile strength and elongation at break [12]
Summary
Safety footwear is a type of personal protective equipment (PPE) that is very important as it protects employees, usually those working in the heavy industry from impact, compression, dangerous chemicals, hot or slippery surfaces and other work-related hazards [1]. The sole of a safety shoe is usually made of synthetic polymers such as nitrile rubber (NBR), polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Besides of their good resistance to chemicals or oils and high storage longevity, synthetic polymers were claimed to be light-weight and non-marking (non-streaking) on floors, compared to natural rubber (NR) based sole [2]. The presence of epoxide groups enhances the properties of NR such as higher damping i.e. better wearing comfort, increase oil and oxidation resistance and higher abrasion resistance i.e. wearing resistance [2], [7] These properties made ENR, an environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to synthetic polymers that is suitable for sole production. Environmentally friendly and sustainable material for the production of composites with high oil resistance property for the safety footwear industry
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