Mechanical and physical characterizations of styrene butadiene rubber: bagasse composites

The incorporation of prevalent industrial wastes (i.e. residues) from sugar industries as reinforcing fillers in rubber composites has emerged as a viable solution, enabling improvements in the environment, and getting rid of bagasse waste has also resulted in cost reduction of the final rubber products. In this study, the use of maleic anhydride was proposed to improve the interfacial adhesion between styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and agricultural waste (fillers). A series of (bagasse–SBR) composites, were obtained by mixing SBR with different proportions (10–50 phr) of bagasse powder using maleic anhydride as a coupling agent. The ground bagasse powder (GBP) obtained from the grinding machine has a selective grain size distribution ranging from about 20–180 µm. The rheological characteristics of the compounded rubber were investigated and determined. The effects of bagasse loading in the rubber mixture on tensile strength, elongation at break, modulus at 100% and 300% elongation, resilience and Shore hardness as well as degree of swelling of the rubber vulcanisates were studied. The prepared samples were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Overall, it was evident from the recorded results that the addition of GBP causes a gradual increase for both tensile strength and elongation at break up to 30 phr and then decreases with further increase in bagasse concentration. Also, the modulus and hardness values were found to increase with increasing bagasse concentration, whereas, the resilience was found to decrease steadily. The equilibrium swelling in toluene decreased with increasing bagasse concentration in SBR vulcanisates.