The Effect of Waste Fodder Potato Proteins on the Mechanical Properties of Carboxylated Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Rubber

The current investigation treats about the influence of waste fodder potato proteins (WFPP) recovered from the starch industry on the mechanical-properties of carboxylated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (XNBR). WFPP were characterized and used as a filler of the above mentioned XNBR rubber without or after blending with zinc oxide. The obtained rubber compounds were cured, and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, hardness, and cross-linking density were investigated. It was found that the introduction of WFPP previously blended with zinc oxide into rubber compound increases the cross-linking density of the obtained composites, compared with the vulcanizate without protein, which in turn increases the mechanical properties of the obtained vulcanizates. That occurs thanks to the formation of ion nodes, as testified by equilibrium swelling. The introduction of WFPP into the elastomer matrix also increases the susceptibility of the elastomer to biodecomposition.