Preparation and Characterization of Rice Husk Powder Incorporated Natural Rubber Latex Foam

Abstract

Rice husk powder (RHP) is an abundant agricultural by product that is produced in bulk quantity as part of rice milling. This research is carried out to incorporate RHP with natural rubber latex (NRL) compound. Different loading of RHP is added to NRL compound and is foamed to make natural rubber latex foam (NRLF) using a well known technique called the Dunlop method. The tensile properties of modified NRLF is studied and compared with the controlled NRLF which has zero RHP loading. The morphology and micro structural characterization has been performed by Tabletop microscopy (TM1000). The tensile strength decreases at 2.5 pphr but increases again as the filler loading increases. Elongation at break decreases whereas modulus at 100% elongation (M 100) and hardness increases as the filler loading increases.