Preparation of modified sisal microcrystalline cellulose PHS‐g‐MCC and its application in NR/SiO₂ composites

Abstract

Poly-(12-hydroxystearic acid) (PHS) grafted sisal microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was prepared using γ-aminopropyltriethoxylsiane (KH550) and PHS. It was applied to natural rubber (NR) composites system to replace part of the silica (SiO 2 ) and reinforce the NR composites. The compatibility between PHS-g-MCC and the NR matrix was studied with molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The reinforcement of NR composites with PHS-g-MCC (instead of SiO 2 ) was investigated experimentally. NR/SiO 2 / PHS-g-MCC and NR/SiO 2 /MCC composites were prepared with a fixed filler content of 30 phr. The results show that the partial substitution of PHS-g-MCC for SiO 2 can improve the vulcanization characteristics of the composites. The PHS-g-MCC showed better dispersibility in the NR matrix than MCC and the addition of PHS-g-MCC improved the tensile strength, 100% modulus, and hardness of the NR composites. When the amount of PHS-g-MCC replacing SiO 2 is 5 phr, the tensile strength of the NR composites reached its maximum value. The thermal stability of NR reinforced by PHS-g-MCC was better than that of NR reinforced by MCC.