Abstract
There is growing interest in replacing the synthetic reinforcements used for natural rubber (NR) composites with natural fibers from renewable, environmentally sustainable sources. Jute fibers may be suitable reinforcements for NR because they have a high tensile strength, which is comparable to other fillers such as glass fibers. Thus, we studied the incorporation of bleached jute fibers into NR, characterizing the mechanical, dynamic mechanical, and morphological properties of the composites. The addition of fibers to the NR latex was achieved by chemical coagulation, followed by vulcanization in a laboratory two-roll mixing mill. The elastic modulus at 100 and 300% elongation of the NR doubled after the addition of 10 phr of fibers without significant loss in the tensile strength or the elongation at break. The hardness was increased by 47%, and the storage modulus also increased, indicating the excellent interactions between the surfaces of the fibers and the NR matrix.
Highlights
Vulcanized natural rubber has several properties that are superior to those of synthetic rubbers, such as high elasticity and high tensile strength[1,2]
There has been growing interest in the substitution of the synthetic fillers, which are widely used in industrially manufactured rubber composites, by natural fillers that are extracted from a renewable sources because of the sustainability of natural rubber[3,4,5]
High-ammonia natural rubber latex was purchased from BDF Ltda (SP, Brazil), while the raw jute fiber was supplied by Castanhal (PA, Brazil), and the styrene phenol antioxidant oil was supplied from Proquitec Ltda (SP, Brazil)
Summary
Vulcanized natural rubber has several properties that are superior to those of synthetic rubbers, such as high elasticity and high tensile strength[1,2]. Jute fiber is a commercially available and cheap natural fiber; it has a high cellulose content[6,7] To use these lignocellulosic fibers in polymeric composites, removal of the lignin and other amorphous materials is necessary to allow the separation of the fibrils on their structure[4,7]. The alkali-treated fibers can be used as reinforcement for different types of polymer composites, such as polypropylene[9,10], epoxy resin[8,11,12] and poly (lactic acid)[13,14] These studies have shown improvement in the mechanical properties of the polymer matrices with a fiber content of less than 20%
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