Nonlinear Viscoelasticity of (Unvulcanized) Natural Rubber, Derived Materials, and Compounds Through LAOS Testing

Abstract

Abstract Natural rubber (NR) is by far the most important elastic material but its production specifications remain relatively poor when compared to synthetic elastomers. The so-called technically specified NR grades (i.e., technically specified rubber) are indeed characterized with respect to basic rubber test techniques, such as the Mooney viscosity, the (Wallace) plasticity (P0), and the Plasticity Retention Index, but high elasticity grades like ribbed smoked sheets are classified with respect to visual inspection criteria only. In addition, NR exhibits by nature more variation than synthetic polymers, owing to inevitable production differences from around 50 different clones of Hevea Brasiliensis, which are further enhanced by climate, soil, and other local effects, as well as seasonal effects on tapping. Most rubber processing operations occur at high rates of strain, and therefore it is essentially the nonlinear viscoelastic response of rubber materials that is of interest. This prompted the development of advanced investigation testing, such as large amplitude oscillatory strain (LAOS) experiments, which over the last decade were developed into powerful techniques to document the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of polymer materials. First, the standard rheological tests for characterizing gum NR grades are briefly reviewed and discussed. Second, the equipment, test protocols, data treatment, and results modeling necessary to apply nonlinear viscoelastic testing are presented. Third, a number of LAOS experimental results obtained on various grades of NR, on a few chemically modified NR materials, and on two carbon black-filled NR compounds are reported and discussed.