Degradation Characteristics of Vulcanized Natural Rubber by Dimethyl Ether through Filler and Plasticizer Composition Variations

Abstract

Dimethyl ether (DME) is a type of renewable energy that could replace the use of fossil fuel in Indonesia. Nevertheless, DME can cause degradation of rubber-based materials. Therefore, the performance of rubber that has been degraded by DME must be improved. This research study aims are to determine the degradation characteristics of modified vulcanized natural rubber in a DME environment. The effect of the filler (carbon black) and plasticizer (minarex-B) components of vulcanized natural rubber was examined. The vulcanized rubber samples were comprised of 10, 30, and 60 parts per hundred rubbers (phr) of filler and 0, 10 and 20 phr of plasticizer. The degradation of the mass and mechanical properties of the rubber were investigated. Degradation testing was conducted by immersing the samples inside a pressure vessel that was filled with the liquid phase of DME. The results indicate that the increasing of the filler composition reduces the impact of degradation, while the increasing of the plasticizer composition has the opposite effect. The plasticizer is needed to distribute the filler to all parts of the rubber. Consequently, a filler composition of 30 phr and a plasticizer composition of 10 phr provide a vulcanized natural rubber with optional protection against the degradation caused by DME. The characteristics of natural rubber, as measured by Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR) proved that DME does not damage the structure of the polymer chains, although DME may react with some ingredients in the rubber that have a similar polarity.

Electron Beam Irradiation: A Method for Degradation of Composites Based on Natural Rubber and Plasticized Starch

“…Permeability is the one that determines the volume increasing of immersed samples, due to diffusion of the solvent molecules in the material structure. The samples that have reached the absorption equilibrium are dried until constant mass, then are weighed and if the mass is lower than initially, this means that some sample components were dissolved by the solvent [54]. The variation of weight loss in toluene and water for C0-C50 composites is presented in Figure 8a,b.…”

Deproteinized Natural Rubber Grafted with Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/Polystirene (PS) and Degradation of its Mechanical Properties by Dimethyl Ether

“…This phenomenon of free polymers provides filler for the crosslinked rubber. As shown by Saputra et al (2016), increased loading in rubber filler decreases the loss of mass. Previous researchers, such as Mikhailova et al (2009), have investigated the increase in filler composition and found that it inhibits absorption and reaction in vulcanized rubber.…”

“…It can also attack some sealing materials and plastic components because of its low viscosity (Arcoumanis et al, 2008). Previous studies have made use of the immersion method through the use of swelling and mechanical properties as parameters to test for resistance in DME (Li and Zhou, 2008;Wu et al, 2008;Saputra et al, 2016;Sari et al, 2017;Saputra et al, 2018). According to research conducted by Li and Zhou (2008), immersion of rubber in a mixture of DME/diesel at 20/80 w/w produces a corroded rubber seal.…”

Experimental Comparison of Working Region, Flame Stability, and Flame Height of LPG, DME, and DME-mixed LPG in an Atmospheric Diffusion Cylindrical Burner

“…Facing this situation, the option of using alternative energy is a good choice in order to reduce dependency on imported LPG. Dimethyl ether (DME) is emerging as an alternative fuel for LPG since it has similar properties that make it possible to be handled and distributed using the same facilities for LPG (Makoś et al, 2019), even though when using DME in LPG facilities, it should be considered to be careful on seals made of rubber-based materials (Saputra et al, 2016). Modification such as deproteinized natural rubber with acrylonitrile and styrene monomer is investigated to overcome the compatibility issue on rubber-based materials (Sari et al, 2020).…”