Effect of curing temperature , fibre loading and bonding agent on the equilibrium swelling of isora-natural rubbercomposites

Isora fibre-reinforced natural rubber (NR) composites were cured at 80, 100, 120 and 150°C using a low temperature curing accelerator system. Composites were also prepared using a conventional accelerator system and cured at 150°C. The swelling behavior of these composites at varying fibre loadings was studied in toluene and hexane. Results show that the uptake of solvent and volume fraction of rubber due to swelling was lower for the low temperature cured vulcanizates which is an indication of the better fibre/rubber adhesion. The uptake of aromatic solvent was higher than that of aliphatic solvent, for all the composites. As the fibre content increased, the solvent uptake decreased, due to the superior solvent resistance of the fibre and good fibre-rubber interactions. The bonding agent improved the swelling resistance of the composites due to the strong interfacial adhesion. Due to the improved adhesion between the fibre and rubber, the ratio of the change in volume fraction of rubber due to swelling to the volume fraction of rubber in the dry sample (V,) was found to decrease in the presence of bonding agent. At a fixed fibre loading, the alkali treated fibre composite showed a lower percentage swelling than untreated one for both systems showing superior rubber-fibre interactions.

Recycling of NR Based Cured Latex Material Reclaimed with 2,2'-Dibenzamidodiphenyldisulphide in a TruckTire Tread Compound

It is observed that reclamation of natural rubber latex based rubber using 2,2'-dibenzamidodiphenvldisulphide as reclaiming agent is an optional methodology for recycling of waste latex rubber (WLR). For progressive replacement of virgin natural rubber by the reclaim, two alternatives curing system were investigated: adjustment or reduction of the curing system with increasing reclaim content, to compensate for the extra amount of curatives brought along by the reclaim. For fixed curing system, as if the reclaim were equivalent to virgin NR. The cure behavior, final crosslink density and distribution, mechanical properties, and dynamic viscoelastic properties of the blends with reclaimed WLR are measured and compared with the virgin compound. The morphology of the blends, sulfur migration, and final distribution are analyzed.The mechanical and dynamic viscoelastic properties deteriorate for both curing systems, but to a lesser extent for fixed curing system compared to adjusted curing system. With the fixed cure system, many properties like tensile strength and compression set do still deteriorate, but tan 6 and Mrrr„/Murxr, representative for the rolling resistance of tires are improved. On the other hand, with the adjusted cure system both mechanical and dynamic properties still deteriorate.

Compatibility Studies on Sulphur Cured EPDM/CIIR Blends

The principal objective of this study was to explore the compatibility of a blend of two synthetic elastomers viz., ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM) and chlorobutyl rubber (CIIR). Various commercial grades of EPDM were blended with a specific grade of CIIR at different proportions. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, tear strength, ageing resistance, etc. were studied. On the basis of the observed physical properties, two particular grades of EPDM were found to be compatible with CIIR. Differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy confirmed the results. Chlorosulphonated polyethylene was added as a compatibilizing agent to overcome the phase separation of the other two incompatible grades of EPDM in blending with CIIR. The results revealed that the addition of compatibilizer greatly improves the compatibility and thereby the properties of the blends.

Design and Development of Instrumentation Systems to determine the Dry Rubber Content in Natural Rubber Latex

Hevea latex is a natural biological liquid of very complex composition .Besides rubber hydrocarbons,it contains many proteinous and resinous substances,carbohydrates,inorganic matter,water,and others.The Dry Rubber Content (DRC) of latex varies according to season, tapping system,weather,soil conditions ,clone,age of the tree etc. The true DRC of the latex must be determined to ensure fair prices for the latex during commercial exchange.The DRC of Hevea latex is a very familiar term to all in the rubber industry.It has been the basis for incentive payments to tappers who bring in more than the daily agreed poundage of latex.It is an important parameter for rubber and latex processing industries for automation and verious decesion making processes.This thesis embodies the efforts made by me to determine the DRC of rubber latex following different analytical tools such as MIR absorption,thermal analysis.dielectric spectroscopy and NIR reflectance.The rubber industry is still Looking for a compact instrument that is accurate economical,easy to use and environment friendly.I hope the results presented in this thesis will help to realise this goal in the near future.

Studies On The Reproduction Of Indian Whiting Sill/160 5'/Ham/1 (Forskal) (Percoidei, Sillaginidae)

From the point of view of rational exploitation and proper management of the fishery resources as well as for the development of intensive aquaculture of fishes through selective breeding, brood stock development, domestication and genetic improvement, a sound knowledge of reproductive biology and physiology of the candidate species is of great importance. In recent times, a wealth of information on maturity, spawning habits, spawning periodicity, spawning season, size at maturity and fecundity of commercially important fishes has been generated. Gametogenesis involves the transformation of Primordial germ cells in the gonads into specialised cells or gametes, namely ova in the female and sperms in male, through a series of complex morphological and cytological events. The formation of male gamete is known as spermatogenesis. In the female, the primary growth phase involving the formation of primary oocyte from oogonia is known as oogenesis, which would be followed by the secondary growth phase, in which considerable increase in the size of the oocyte occurs, due mainly to accumulation of yolk. This process is known as vitellogenesis, which would be followed by final maturation and ovulation of the ova. In the present work, basic aspects of maturation and spawning, salient features of gametogenesis and associated biochemical changes occurring during these processes in an important cultivable fish, Sillago sihama belonging to the family Sillaginidae have been investigated.

A Study of Single Stage Semi‐Dry Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste

Solid waste generation is a natural consequence of human activity and is increasing along with population growth, urbanization and industrialization. Improper disposal of the huge amount of solid waste seriously affects the environment and contributes to climate change by the release of greenhouse gases. Practicing anaerobic digestion (AD) for the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) can reduce emissions to environment and thereby alleviate the environmental problems together with production of biogas, an energy source, and digestate, a soil amendment. The amenability of substrate for biogasification varies from substrate to substrate and different environmental and operating conditions such as pH, temperature, type and quality of substrate, mixing, retention time etc. Therefore, the purpose of this research work is to develop feasible semi-dry anaerobic digestion process for the treatment of OFMSW from Kerala, India for potential energy recovery and sustainable waste management. This study was carried out in three phases in order to reach the research purpose. In the first phase, batch study of anaerobic digestion of OFMSW was carried out for 100 days at 32°C (mesophilic digestion) for varying substrate concentrations. The aim of this study was to obtain the optimal conditions for biogas production using response surface methodology (RSM). The parameters studied were initial pH, substrate concentration and total organic carbon (TOC). The experimental results showed that the linear model terms of initial pH and substrate concentration and the quadratic model terms of the substrate concentration and TOC had significant individual effect (p < 0.05) on biogas yield. However, there was no interactive effect between these variables (p > 0.05). The optimum conditions for maximizing the biogas yield were a substrate concentration of 99 g/l, an initial pH of 6.5 and TOC of 20.32 g/l. AD of OFMSW with optimized substrate concentration of 99 g/l [Total Solid (TS)-10.5%] is a semi-dry digestion system .Under the optimized condition, the maximum biogas yield was 53.4 L/kg VS (volatile solid).. In the second phase, semi-dry anaerobic digestion of organic solid wastes was conducted for 45 days in a lab-scale batch experiment for substrate concentration of 100 g/l (TS-11.2%) for investigating the start-up performances under thermophilic condition (50°C). The performance of the reactor was evaluated by measuring the daily biogas production and calculating the degradation of total solids and the total volatile solids. The biogas yield at the end of the digestion was 52.9 L/kg VS for the substrate concentration of 100 g/l. About 66.7% of volatile solid degradation was obtained during the digestion. A first order model based on the availability of substrate as the limiting factor was used to perform the kinetic studies of batch anaerobic digestion system. The value of reaction rate constant, k, obtained was 0.0249 day-1. A laboratory bench scale reactor with a capacity of 36.8 litres was designed and fabricated to carry out the continuous anaerobic digestion of OFMSW in the third phase. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the digester at total solid concentration of 12% (semi-dry) under mesophlic condition (32°C). The digester was operated with different organic loading rates (OLRs) and constant retention time. The performance of the reactor was evaluated using parameters such as pH, volatile fatty acid (VFA), alkalinity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), TOC and ammonia-N as well as biogas yield. During the reactor’s start-up period, the process is stable and there is no inhibition occurred and the average biogas production was 14.7 L/day. The reactor was fed in continuous mode with different OLRs (3.1,4.2 and 5.65 kg VS/m3/d) at constant retention time of 30 days. The highest volatile solid degradation of 65.9%, with specific biogas production of 368 L/kg VS fed was achieved with OLR of 3.1 kg VS/m3/d. Modelling and simulation of anaerobic digestion of OFMSW in continuous operation is done using adapted Anaerobic Digestion Model No 1 (ADM1).The proposed model, which has 34 dynamic state variables, considers both biochemical and physicochemical processes and contains several inhibition factors including three gas components. The number of processes considered is 28. The model is implemented in Matlab® version 7.11.0.584(R2010b). The model based on adapted ADM1 was tested to simulate the behaviour of a bioreactor for the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of OFMSW at OLR of 3.1 kg VS/m3/d. ADM1 showed acceptable simulating results.