Role of eco-friendly Molasses carbon powder as a filler in natural rubber Vulcanizates

Abstract

Molasses is an inexpensive by-product of the refining of sugarcane into sugar. To add value of the molasses as a consequence of such advantages as an efficient low cost carbon source, viscous molasses was converted to powder form under the proper condition. Molasses carbon powder (MCP), mainly consisting of carbon, was finally obtained. Since the MCP was rich in carbon as well as carbon black reinforcing filler in rubber, a feasibility study was carried out on the utilization of MCP as a filler in natural rubber (NR). The present work aims to investigate the role of MCP on properties of NR vulcanizates. MCP was incorporated in to the NR with various loadings of 0, 10, 20 and 30 phr (parts per hundred of rubber) and also compared with carbon black (CB). NR filled with carbon fillers, MCP and CB, were examined in the term of cure characteristics, tensile properties, tear strength, abrasion resistance, hardness and swelling resistance. From the results, it was observed that the cure times decreased with the incorporation of MCP whereas torque difference, tensile strength, tensile modulus, hardness and swelling resistance increased. Additionally, results revealed that the vulcanizates containing 10 phr of MCP provided optimum properties and can also be comparable with the commercial carbon black for use as filler for the NR vulcanizates.