Physical and Mechanical Properties of ENR Compatibilized NR/NBR Blends Reinforced Nanoclay and Nanosilica

Abstract

SummaryProperties of the unfilled rubber blends (Natural rubber, NR and Nitrile Butadiene Rubber, NBR) were poor due to the absence of reinforcing agent. However, the strength of compound had been improved with the addition of nanofiller. There were two (2) types of nanofillers that had been introduced which are nanoclay (NC) and nanosilica (NS). NR/NBR composites were prepared by open milling process where different amount of nanofiller was added ranging from 1 until 7 phr. There are a few possibilities might occur when using small particles size of fillers especially in term of interaction between rubber‐filler and filler‐filler interaction. Apart from that, different polarity and composition of both rubbers were influenced the interaction between filler and rubber phases. The interaction between non‐polar and polar rubber was enhanced using epoxidized natural rubber (ENR). The rubber compound was cured via a conventional sulphur vulcanization system. The cure characteristic result shows that the incorporation of nanofiller does not affect much on the t90. The physical and mechanical properties of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) compatibilized NSi‐NR/NBR blends were determined by conducting the density measurements, hardness and tensile tests. The NC filler gave the highest tensile strength compared to NS. On top of that, reduction trend on the tensile strength observed at 3 phr of NS loading due to the formation of NS aggregates. The values of moduli, hardness and densities of vulcanizates increased as the nanofiller loading increased. It occurs due to better filler dispersion in the rubber matrix and strong interaction between filler‐rubber phases. The result shows that NC has more pronounce effect on the physical and mechanical proportion of the rubber vulcanizates.