PROPERTIES OF NATURAL RUBBER COMPOUNDED WITH MODIFIED BANANA PSEUDOSTEM FIBRES AND CALCIUM CARBONATE

Abstract

Investigation into the effects of banana pseudostem fibres on crumb rubber was carried out.  The banana pseudostem was first modified via sulphonation, hydroxylation, carbonization and nitration. The unmodified and modified banana pseudostem fibres (BPFs) were characterized and later used as an additive in natural rubber compounding. The vulcanizates obtained were cured at 150ºC for 5 minutes at a pressure of 260 psi to give test pieces used for physico-mechanical and chemical tests. The physico-mechanical tests showed that calcium carbonate samples gave the highest tensile strength, followed by the modified fibre samples while the unmodified fibre samples gave the least strengths. Within the modified samples, carbonization was found better than sulphunation, which was better than hydroxylation and better than nitration. Chemical tests were through swelling and solubility tests, which were carried out at room temperature in different solvents; acetone, petrol, diesel, kerosene and water.The swelling results showed that acetone swell the vulcanizates more than petroleum fuels (petrol ˃kerosene ˃ diesel) and swell more than water. In summary, it was observed that the surface modification of the fibres increased the physico-mechanical properties of the vulcanisates especially when compared with unmodified vulcanisates. Keywords: crumb rubber, natural rubber latex, banana pseudostem, fibres, modifications, swelling and solubility.