Mechanical, morphological and rheological properties of short nylon fiber reinforced acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber composites

Abstract

Acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) composites were prepared with waste and virgin short nylon 66 fiber using a two-roll mill mixer. The influence of fiber loading with 6 mm lenght and bonding agent on the mechanical and morphological properties of the composites were studied. The cure and scorch times of the composites decreased while cure rate increased when the short fiber was increased. The mechanical properties of composites improved in both longitudinal and transverse directions with increasing short fiber loading. It has been found that 6 mm length is effective for sufficient reinforcement and balance of properties. The adhesion between the fiber and rubber was enhanced by a dry bonding system consisting of resorcinol, hexamethylenetetramine and hydrated silica (HRH), which caused tensile and tear strength were improved. Resilience and compression set were adversely affected with increasing fiber loading. The swelling behavior of the composites in N,N-dimethylformamide solvent has been carried out to find the swelling coefficient values. Fracture surface morphology of composites studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The morphology of the fracture surface show less fiber pull out when the bonding agent is introduced. For composites prepared with virgin and waste fibers, the storage modulus (G′) showed two-stage dependence on frequency at higher fiber loading.