A major problem in most natural rubber latex (NRL) commonly encountered like other polymer is susceptibility to mechanical properties and thermal degradation; particularly in thin film due to the presence of double bonds in the main chain. Therefore, it is desirable to seek for ways of improving these properties. Silica aerogel is a material with extraordinary properties was believed to have potential enhance properties in NRL films because of its high specific surface area. Therefore, based on the unique character of silica aerogel, NRL-silica aerogel film was developed by latex compounding and dry coagulant dipping to form thin film where silica aerogel acts as filler. Silica aerogel, synthesized from rice husk was dispersed in a ball-mill using distilled water for NRL compounding. Results indicate that increasing silica aerogel loading enhances the mechanical properties of the NRL-silica aerogel film. Effects of postvulcanization processes were also investigated, whereby the best reinforcing effect was obtained at 4 phr silica aerogel loading with leaching postvulcanization condition. V C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 124: [3108][3109][3110][3111][3112][3113][3114][3115][3116] 2012
With increased awareness on the importance
of gloves arising from
the COVID-19 pandemic, people are expected to continue using them
even after the pandemic recedes. This scenario in a way increased
the rubber solid waste disposal problem; therefore, the production
of biodegradable gloves may be an option to overcome this problem.
However, the need to study the shelf life of biodegradable gloves
is crucial before commercialization. There are well-established models
to address the failure properties of gloves as stated in the American
Society for Testing and Material (ASTM) D7160. In this study, polysaccharide-based
material-filled natural rubber latex (PFNRL) gloves, which are biodegradable
gloves, were subjected to an accelerated aging process at different
temperatures of 50–80 °C for 1–120 days. Prediction
models based on Arrhenius and shift factors were used to estimate
the shelf life of the PFNRL gloves. Based on the results obtained,
the estimated time for the PFNRL gloves to retain 75% of their tensile
strength at shelf temperature (30 °C) based on Arrhenius and
shift factor models was 2.8 years. Verification on the activation
energy based on the shift factor model indicated that the shelf life
of PFNRL gloves is 2.9 years, which is only a 3.6% difference. The
value obtained is aligned with the requirement in accordance with
ASTM D7160, which states that only up to a maximum of 3 years’
shelf life is allowed for the gloves under accelerated aging conditions.
In the present study, the fatigue, resilience, hardness, and swelling behaviour of natural rubber and recycled acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NR/NBRr) blends were studied in the concentration range from 5 to 35 phr of recycled NBR. NBR gloves have excellent resistance to punctures, tear and many types of chemicals, while NR has good physical and mechanical properties. Blending NBRr into the rubber blends improved the processability, stiffness and resilience and conferred excellent oil resistance. The fatigue life of NR/NBRr blends decreased as the NBRr content increased, due to the incompatibility and poor dispersion of NBRr in the NR matrix. However, increasing NBRr content gave NR/NBRr blends better resistance towards swelling and hardness. Both properties increased due to the improvement in crosslink density when more NBRr was added, but the resilience properties exhibited an opposite trend. Scanning electron microscopy study indicated that the recycled NBR shows a coarser and poor dispersion in NR matrix particularly when more NBRr content was used, which leads to lower fatigue life of the NR/NBRr blends.
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