Abstract
Titanium dioxide dispersion was sonicated as an attempt to reduce its particle sizes and thereafter used as fillers in making natural rubber (NR) composite films. Fillers of reduced particle sizes, owing to enhanced surface areas and aspect ratios, usually result in unique property improvements. The reinforcing effects of untreated and sonicated samples of the fillers were, therefore, compared through the measurement of tensile properties of the dry films. Results, however, indicated a monotonic decrease in moduli with filler content, contrary to behaviour due to conventional fillers, but showed improve- ment in both elongation at break and tensile strength data at low filler concentration (2phr), and thereafter a decrease in the trend. The affinity between the filler and matrix was examined using the composite theory of Einstein. Theoretical prediction of Young's moduli from this was compared against experimental data and it was found that there was certain level of inter- facial interaction.
Highlights
Natural rubber (NR) latex is tapped naturally from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree, which is a species of rubber tree indigenous to Brazil
The rubber particles in the latex are of varying sizes with diameter ranging from 50 to 400 millimicrons
Natural rubber is a flexible raw material in the sense that it possesses the ability to be modified by the addition of fillers, while retaining its characteristic processing ease, to Titanium dioxide is an inexpensive, nontoxic and photostable inorganic material, which has good optical and photocatalytic properties for many applications
Summary
Natural rubber (NR) latex is tapped naturally from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree, which is a species of rubber tree indigenous to Brazil. Treated Titanium Dioxide Dispersion/Natural Rubber Latex thermal stability, mechanical strength, hydrophilicity and viscoelasticity are obtained in different types of polymer matrix by the inclusion of nanosized particles of TiO2[7,8,9,10]. Methods for achieving particle size reduction of inorganic materials, including TiO2 particles, meant for compounding polymer matrixes are being vigorously investigated. The filler is an aqueous dispersion of TiO2 and the decision is based on the convenience involved in blending it with NR latex which, like the former, is an aqueous system. This is called latex compounding method (LCM). As far as available literature in the field is concerned, there seems not to be any reported investigation of this system in particular as presented in this paper
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