Abstract
One rubber products, pneumatic rubber fender (PRF), is fully imported, where the raw material is made primarily by synthetic rubber. PRF products have been used in the transport sector as the impact protection of ports and ships. In this study, the mixture between natural and synthetic rubber conducted to determine the  optimum formula of mixing rubber for  the product PRF. Then the PRF-product was subjected to Aging Resistance Test (ART). Physical and mechanical properties of the PRF were analyzed by tensile strength test, elongation at break test, tear resistance test, hardness test, and also some samples of the product of mixing were observed by Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetry Analysis (TGA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The formula used in this study is the ratio of single-NR-100%; combinations of NR-70% and CR-30%; combinations of NR-30% and CR-70%; and the CR-100%. The results showed that the optimum mix formula for the PRF product is NR-70%: CR-30%.
Highlights
Indonesia has many natural resources, one of which is natural rubber
The world's natural rubber supply is projected to grow by about 2.8% per year, but the global rubber demand is only growing at about 0.4 %
The government is expected to play a role together with the private sector to organize the flow of natural rubber production so as to improve the quality and efficiency of the process, which in turn can suppress the price of rubber material so that it can compete with synthetic rubber products [2]
Summary
Indonesia has many natural resources, one of which is natural rubber. Indonesia is one of the largest natural rubber producer in the world after Thailand, with a production capacity of approximately 3.1 million tons per year of the total area of 3.6 million hectares. To reduce the cost and improve the mechanical properties, thermal aging at ambient temperature has been observed in natural rubber elastomer [4]. H.T. Chiu et al has reported mechanical properties and thermal properties after aging of a mixture of natural rubber and polybutadiene rubber at different rates [10]. Indonesia needs to develop downstream industries to provide added value to raw rubber, the development of the local rubber industry is very important to absorb the local natural rubber production and to create jobs for the community. The research was carried out on a variety of formulas of natural rubber and synthetic rubber, and the results were subject to several tests to observe the physical and mechanical characteristics of the product mixture. Several other samples were observed using FTIR, TGA and SEM tests
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