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ATH filled NR/PP thermoplastic vulcanisates (TPVs) were obtained from blending natural rubber (NR), polypropylene (PP) and alumina trihydrate (ATH) by using Brabender plastograph. Maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAH-g-PP) was used as compatibiliser to improve mechanical and flammability properties of TPVs. The effect of MAH-g-PP at different concentrations on the properties of ATH filled NR/PP TPVs was studied. Investigation on the microstructures of ATH filled NR/PP TPVs by mean of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) indicated the efficient mixing of NR and PP phases and more uniform distribution of ATH in individual component of NR/PP blend due to compatibilising action of MAH-g-PP. Mechanistic model for the compatibilisation process of a structure of ATH filled NR/PP TPVs in the presence of MAH-g-PP was also proposed. With higher concentration of MAH-g-PP, the TPVs had shown increase in 100% modulus, increase in tensile strength, decrease in elongation at break and less elastic recovery. The flame resistance also increased with the addition of given amount of MAH-g-PP. However, the addition of MAH-g-PP had little influence on processing capability of the ATH filled NR/PP TPVs. Based on the present study, it was suggested that the MAH-g-PP acted as compatibility enhancer in the ATH filled NR/PP TPVs and the compatibility increase was a key to benefit the strength and flame retardancy of the NR/PP TPVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocomposite foams of natural rubber (NR) with 5 phr of two kinds of nanofillers, nanoclay (NC) and cellulose nanofiber (CNF), were produced using the latex mixing method and foaming with azodicarbonamide. The effect of the nanofiller on the structure and mechanical properties of NR foams was investigated through SEM, TEM, tensile tests, WAXD, and compression set measurements. Smaller cells with a narrower distribution were attained in the NC/NR foam when compared to the NR and CNF/NR foams, and the expansion ratio was larger due to the suppression of the shrinkage in the NC/NR foam. The foaming of the NR nanocomposites reduced the size of the filler aggregates and improved the dispersion and alignment of nanofillers in the cell walls. The addition of NC and CNF enhanced the tensile strength of the NR foam by 139% and 62%, respectively, without sacrificing the excellent strain of the NR, due to the acceleration of the strain-induced crystallization and small size of the filler aggregates. The compression set of the NR foam could also be reduced in the NC/NR foam compared with the NR and CNF/NR foams.

We investigated the reinforcement behavior of small amounts of chemically unmodified cellulose nanofiber (CNF) in eco-friendly natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites. For this purpose, NR nanocomposites filled with 1, 3, and 5 parts per hundred rubber (phr) of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) were prepared by a latex mixing method. By using TEM, a tensile test, DMA, WAXD, a bound rubber test, and gel content measurements, the effect of CNF concentration on the structure-property relationship and reinforcing mechanism of the CNF/NR nanocomposite was revealed. Increasing the content of CNF resulted in decreased dispersibility of the nanofiber in the NR matrix. It was found that the stress upturn in the stress-strain curves was remarkably enhanced when the NR was combined with 1-3 phr CNF, and a noticeable increase in tensile strength (an approximately 122% increase in tensile strength over that of NR) was observed without sacrificing the flexibility of the NR in the NR filled with 1 phr CNF, though no acceleration in their strain-induced crystallization was observed. Since the NR chains were not inserted in the uniformly dispersed CNF bundles, the reinforcement behavior by the small content of CNF might be attributed to the shear stress transfer at the CNF/NR interface through the interfacial interaction (i.e., physical entanglement) between the nano-dispersed CNFs and the NR chains. However, at a higher CNF filling content (5 phr), the CNFs formed micron-sized aggregates in the NR matrix, which significantly induced the local stress concentration and promoted strain-induced crystallization, causing a substantially increased modulus but reduced the strain at the rupture of the NR.

Natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites reinforced with five parts per hundred rubber (phr) of two different nano-fillers, i.e., nanoclay (abbrev. NC) and cellulose nanofiber (abbrev. CNF), were prepared by using latex mixing approach, followed by mill-compounding and molding. The morphology, stress-strain behavior, strain-induced crystallization, and bound rubber of the NR nanocomposites were systematically compared through TEM, tensile test, WAXS, DMA, and bound rubber measurement. The aggregated CNFs were observed in the NR matrix, while the dispersed nanosized clay tactoids were detected across the NR phase. The reinforcement effects of NC and CNF were clearly distinct in the NR nanocomposites. At the same nano-filler content, the addition of NC and CNF effectively accelerated strain-induced crystallization of NR. The high tensile strength obtained in the NC-filled NR nanocomposite was attributed to strain-induced crystallization of NR accelerated by well-dispersed NC. However, the larger tensile modulus and low strain for the CNF-filled NR were related to the formation of immobilized NR at the interface between CNF aggregate and NR. The immobilization effect of NR at the CNF surface offered by a mutual entanglement of CNF aggregate and NR chain led to local stress concentration and accelerated strain-induced crystallization of CNF/NR nanocomposite. From the present study, the NR nanocomposites combined with 5 phr CNF shows high-tensile modulus and acceptable breaking tensile stress and strain, suggesting the application of CNF/NR based nanocomposite in automotive and stretchable sensors for next-generation electronic devices.

The stiffness of representative cured autopolymerising dental acrylic resins was determined by calculation of a secant modulus from measurements in tension of load and extension, and related to the powder/liquid mixing ratio. The impact strengths of autopolymerising, heat-cure and commercial resins were compared. It was found that while the stiffness of autopolymerising resins was unaffected by variations in powder/liquid mixing ratio, extension to failure was greater with lower powder/liquid ratios. The impact strength of autopolymerising resins was found to be greater than that of heat-cure resins, and a tentative explanation is offered. These findings may help to explain the pattern of failure of acrylic resin denture bases.