Abstract
The effect of natural rubber and glycerol addition on the mechanical performance of Tacca leontopetaloides biopolymer was investigated in this paper. The samples were formulated by varying blend ratios of latex natural rubber to glycerol; 40/30 (GM1), 50/5.85 (GM2), 60/30 (GM3), 40/10 (GM4) and 50/20 (GM5). The samples (GMs) were compounded by using two roll mill machine followed by vulcanization process with the presence of stearic acid and sulphur that act as curing agent. The sheet formed was cut into desired sizes, based on the analysis conducted. The mechanical performance of GMs was investigated by conducting tensile test, morphological structural analysis and water absorption test. The mechanical properties of GM2 showed a high tensile strength with low Young’s modulus compared to other GMs, thus indicating that GM2 was the superior combination of natural rubber to glycerol blend ratio. This, therefore, may be applied for the development of biopolymer with the properties of thermoplastic elastomer.
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