EFFECTS OF PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF RATTAN POWDER BY COMMERCIAL FILLERS ON THE PROPERTIES OF NATURAL RUBBER COMPOSITES

The effects of partial replacement of rattan powder (RP) by carbon black (CB), mica, and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) on the curing characteristics, tensile properties, rubber-filler interaction, and morphological studies of natural rubber (NR) composites were investigated. Rattan powder with an average particle size of less than 180 µm was used in this study. NR/RP/CB, NR/RP/mica, and NR/RP/CaCO3 composites with five different RP/commercial fillers loadings (i.e. 30/0, 20/10, 15/15, 10/20, 0/30 phr) were prepared using a laboratory size two-roll mill. Results showed that the maximum torque (MH) of the NR/RP/CB, NR/RP/mica, and NR/RP/CaCO3 composites increased with increasing the commercial filler-loading ratio. The scorch time (ts2) and cure time (t90) of NR/RP/CB composites decreased as the ratio of CB loading was increased, whereas, ts2 and t90 of NR/RP/mica and NR/RP/CaCO3 composites increased as mica and CaCO3 loading ratio were raised, respectively. The tensile strength, elongation at break (Eb), stress at 100% elongation (M100), and stress at 300% elongation (M300) of all the composites increased as the commercial filler-loading ratio increased. This is due to the presence of the commercial filler, which brought a better rubber-filler interaction, as confirmed by the rubber-filler interaction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies.