Studies on thermal-oxidative degradation behaviours of raw natural rubber: PRI and thermogravimetry analysis

Thermal-oxidative degradation behaviours of raw natural rubber (NR) have been investigated by using thermogravimetry analysis in inert and oxidative atmospheres and the plasticity retention index (PRI). The activation energy E a, was calculated using Horowitz-Metzger and Coats-Redfern methods and compared with PRI. The E a values obtained by each method were in good agreement with each other. The June samples are the least stable rubbers among the studied ones, whereas February samples exhibited the highest values of activation energy, therefore in agreement with the PRI behaviour, which indicates that the thermo-oxidative stability of the June samples are the poorest during the thermo-oxidative degradation reaction. Natural rubber is a product of biological origin, and thus these variations in the values of thermal behaviour and PRI might be related to the genetic differences and alterations of climatic conditions that act directly on the synthesis of non-rubber constituents, which are generally reflected in latex and rubber properties. © 2013 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Natural rubber/leather waste composite foam: A new eco-friendly material and recycling approach

This article describes a new approach of recycling the leather waste (shavings) using it as filler in natural rubber foams composites. The foams were prepared using different amounts of leather waste (0-60 parts per hundred of rubber) and submitted to morphological (SEM microscopy) and mechanical analyses (cyclic stress-strain compression). The increase of leather shavings on the composite causes an increase of viscosity in the mixture, which reflects in the foaming process. This results in smaller and fairly uniform cells. Furthermore, expanded rubber has the biggest cell size, with more than 70% of cell with 1000 mu m, while the composite with the higher concentration of leather has around 80% of total number of cells with 100-400 mu m. The mechanical parameters were found to depend on the leather dust concentration. Moreover, the stiffness rises with the increase of leather shavings; consequently, the compression force for expanded rubber was 0.126 MPa as well as the composite with higher concentration of leather was 7.55 MPa. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41636.

Natural rubber latex coated with calcium phosphate for biomedical application

Natural rubber latex (NRL) is a flexible biomembrane that possesses angiogenic properties and has recently been used for guided bone regeneration, enhancing healing without fibrous tissue, allergies or rejection. Calcium phosphate (Ca/P) ceramics have chemical, biological, and mechanical properties similar to mineral phase of bone, and ability to bond to the host tissue, although it can disperse from where it is applied. Therefore, to create a composite that could enhance the properties of both materials, NRL biomembranes were coated with Ca/P. NRL biomembranes were soaked in 1.5 times concentrated SBF solution for seven days, avoiding the use of high temperatures. SEM showed that Ca/P has been coated in NRL biomembrane, XRD showed low crystallinity and FTIR showed that is the carbonated type B. Furthermore, hemolysis of erythrocytes, quantified spectrophotometrically using materials (Ca/P, NRL, and NRL + Ca/P) showed no hemolytic effects up to 0.125 mg/mL (compounds and mixtures), indicating no detectable disturbance of the red blood cell membranes. The results show that the biomimetic is an appropriate method to coat NRL with Ca/P without using high temperatures, aiming a new biomembrane to improve guided bone regeneration.

The mechanical and thermal behaviors of glass bead filled polypropylene

Notch Izod impact strength of poly(propylene) (PP)/glass bead blends was studied as a function of temperature. The results indicated that the toughness for various blends could undergo a brittle-ductile transition (BDT) with increasing temperature. The BDT temperature (T-BD) decreased with increasing glass bead content. Introducing the interparticle distance (ID) concept into the study, it was found that the critical interparticle distance (IDc) reduced with increasing test temperature correspondingly. The static tensile tests showed that the Young's modulus of the blends decreased slightly first and thereafter increased with increasing glass bead content. However, the yield stress decreased considerably with the increase in glass bead content. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements revealed that the heat-deflection temperature of the PP could be much improved by the incorporation of glass beads. Moreover, the glass transition temperature (T-g) increased obviously with increasing glass beads content. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results implied that the addition of glass beads could change the crystallinity as well as the melting temperature of the PP slightly.

Biaxial Characterisation of Materials for Thermoforming and Blow Moulding

During free surface moulding processes such as thermoforming and blow moulding heated polymer materials are subjected to rapid biaxial deformation as they are drawn into the shape of a mould. In the development of process simulations it is therefore essential to be able to accurately measure and model this behaviour. Conventional uniaxial test methods are generally inadequate for this purpose and this has led to the development of specialised biaxial test rigs. In this paper the results of several programmes of biaxial tests conducted at Queen’s University are presented and discussed. These have included tests on high impact polystyrene (HIPS), polypropylene (PP) and aPET, and the work has involved a wide variety of experimental conditions. In all cases the results clearly demonstrate the unique characteristics of materials when subjected to biaxial deformation. PP draws the highest stresses and it is the most temperature sensitive of the materials. aPET is initially easier to form but exhibits strain hardening at higher strains. This behaviour is increased with increasing strain rate but at very high strain rates these effects are increasingly mollified by adiabatic heating. Both aPET and PP (to a lesser degree) draw much higher stresses in sequential stretching showing that this behaviour must be considered in process simulations. HIPS showed none of these effects and it is the easiest material to deform.