Film and latex forms of silica-reinforced natural rubber composite vulcanized using electron beam irradiation

Abstract

A thorough study was undertaken of the synthesis of natural rubber-silica treated with bis-(3-triethoxysilylpropyl) tetrasulfane (NR/TSi) vulcanized using electron beam irradiation (EB) and sulfur by varying the EB dose. The surface treatment of silica was confirmed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy images. Composites were cast and vulcanized in film and latex forms compared with sulfur vulcanization. Investigation covered the mechanical properties, thermal stability, swelling resistance, and degradation under heat and humidity testing of the NR/TSi composites. It was found that the TSi had great dispersal in the NR matrix. TSi in NR matrix had a positive effect on mechanical properties, swelling in water and toluene, and thermal stability. Increasing the radiation intensity up to 250 kGy led to superior mechanical properties but for further increase in the radiation intensity, the tensile strength dropped. Degradation under thermal and humidity testing showed that the un-vulcanized composite had higher physical degradation than the vulcanized samples. Therefore, NR/TSi vulcanized using 200 kGy EB vulcanized in latex form had the greatest mechanical properties for various applications without producing any residual vulcanizing agent.

Degradation by Electron Beam Irradiation of Some Composites Based on Natural Rubber Reinforced with Mineral and Organic Fillers

“…The analysis of NR-U samples highlighted the absorption at 3343-3331 cm −1 due to the OH stretching from the silanol group. Absorptions at 1658-1647 cm −1 , 1100-1080 cm −1 and 827-816 cm −1 are assigned to the stretching vibration of O-H bond peak, asymmetric stretching of Si-O group and blending vibration of siloxane groups (Si-O-Si) [86]. Decreased absorption of these bands with the radiation dose increasing is a consequence of the degradation of the composite based on natural rubber reinforced with precipitated silica.…”

Electrically Conductive Natural Rubber Composite Films Reinforced with Graphite Platelets

“…Although NR exhibits many exceptional properties, including high flexibility, elasticity, excellent tear strength, toughness, and abrasion resistance, it also has limitations in terms of poor chemical resistance, limited temperature usage due to temperature sensitivity caused by environmental factors such as weather, sunlight, and ozone exposure [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. The incorporation of fillers has been shown to be an effective strategy to improve the properties of NR.…”

Construction and Characterization of the Diode and Triode Electron Sources for EBM 300 keV/20 mA

“…When EBM is used for sterilization, this technology has more benefits than sterilization using UV light (Widiyati and Poernomo, 2018), gamma rays (Febriasari et al, 2021), or ozone gas (Abuzairi et al, 2022) EBM is commonly employed for mass production due to its non-reliance on Co-60 radioactive sources, fast sterilization process, and environmentally friendly nature. The EBM has also been used to study materials sciences (Lee et al, 2022), as well as to do vulcanization of the natural rubber latex (Reowdecha et al, 2021).…”