A novel active bio-based pressure-sensitive adhesive incorporating cinnamon oil (Bio-PSA/CO) obtained from the mixture of natural rubber (NR), xyloglucan (XG), and cinnamon oil (CO) for food antimicrobial applications were successfully developed by using a two-roll mill mixer. The effect of the main process factors (i.e., nip gap and mastication time) and XG content on the adhesion properties of the obtained PSA were investigated with different coated substrates including kraft paper, nylon film, polypropylene (PP) film, and aluminum foil (Al). The results suggested that the developed NR-PSA/CO could be applied well to all types of substrate materials. Peel strength and shear strength of the NR-PSA/CO with all substrate types were in the ranges of ~0.03 × 102–5.64 × 102 N/m and ~0.24 × 104–9.50 × 104 N/m2, respectively. The proper processed condition of the NR-PSA/CO was represented with a nip gap of 2 mm and a mastication time of 15 min. An increase in XG content up to 40–60 phr can improve the adhesion properties of the adhesive. The resulting material could be used as an active sticky patch to extend the shelf-life of food in a closed packaging system. The shelf-life of the food samples (banana cupcake) could be extended from 4 to 9 days with NR-PSA/CO patch.
Shape memory thermoplastic natural rubber was successfully developed in our laboratory. The main aim of this work is to obtain the suitable recipe and condition for fabrication of shape memory polymers (SMPs) based thermoplastic natural rubber (TPNR). It can be easily used as 3D imprint material for forensic application. The effect of blending ratio of thermoplastic (TP) and natural rubber (NR) on the mechanical and shape memory properties has been investigated. It was found that the mechanical properties show a decreasing trend with increasing of NR content while the shape fixity (≥ 70%) and recovery efficiency (≥ 60%) increased when adding NR in the blends. In addition, the prepared SMPs based TPNR in this work was also compared with commercially available forensic grade silicone. The resulting material provided better performances in terms of mechanical properties and shelf life. Low cost and ease of processing are the advantages and benefits of this system.
This study focuses on enhancing the mechanical and thermal properties of thermoplastic starch (TPS) and natural rubber (NR) blends through the incorporation of polyethylene glycol (PEG 2,000) and various types of modified natural rubber such as epoxidized natural rubber (ENR), poly(methyl methacrylate) grafted natural rubber (NR-g-PMMA), and poly(butyl methacrylate) grafted natural rubber (NR-g-PBMA). The influence of TPS/NR blend ratios, PEG content, and type of modified NR on the properties of the blends was investigated along with their water absorption and bio-degradation. The increase in ductile properties of the TPS/NR blends can be achieved by increasing the NR content. Among the series of TPS/NR blends, the highest toughness (1,630 MJ/m3) can be observed when the blend was formulated from 1.0 wt% of PEG and 10.0 wt% of ENR. The water absorption of TPS/NR blends was found to be lower than the TPS sample, but still exhibited a high water absorption rate compared to the other conventional polymers. The bio-degradation test confirmed the bio-degradation capability of TPS/NR blends according to ASTM 5988-12, and the result revealed that more than 80% of the tested samples can be bio-degraded in soil within 90 days.
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