Fabrication of Natural Rubber Latex Foam Composite Filled with Pineapple-leaf Cellulose Fibres

Abstract

Pineapple leaf (PL) is a renewable agriculture residue which are abundance in Thailand. In this paper, cellulose powder was extracted from PL. Celluloses are typically used as fillers for rubber reinforced composites due to their properties such as high mechanical properties, low cost, low density, and biodegradability. The aim of this study was to optimize the method to prepare natural rubber latex foam (NRLF) with different cellulose loadings from 0 to 7 phr by using Dunlop method. The different steps for adding celluloses in this study were adding in pre-vulcanization process and in foaming process were studied. The tensile properties, density, compression, and microstructural characterization were studied. Morphological and microstructural performed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that adding cellulose in pre-vulcanization step showed well distribution of cellulose while adding cellulose in foaming process showed the settle of cellulose at the bottom of the foam sample. The tensile strength and elongation at break decreased with increasing of cellulose content whereas modulus increased with increasing of cellulose content.