Journal
POLYMER TESTING
Volume 32, Issue 6, Pages 1135-1144Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2013.07.003
Keywords
Natural rubber; Gel content; Physical properties
Funding
- Mahidol University
- Royal Golden Jubilee (RGJ) Ph.D. program [PHD/0257/2550]
- Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry (PERCH-CIC), Commission on Higher Education, Ministry of Education
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Recently, gel content has been considered as a standard property for evaluating commercial grade natural rubber (NR). In this study, NR containing various amounts of gel was prepared by accelerated storage hardening as a model to clarify the influence of gel content on the physical properties of both unfilled and carbon black filled vulcanizates. Furthermore, the NR samples were investigated to determine the effect of gel fraction on Mooney viscosity and the structure of the gel after mastication. The results revealed that Mooney viscosity was related to the percentage of gel fraction that has been proven to be the result of interactions between proteins and phospholipids at chain ends. After mastication, although the gel fraction of NR can be decomposed to similar to 0% w/w, the interactions of proteins and phospholipids at the chain ends still existed, corresponding to the gel content of the raw rubber. In the case of unfilled vulcanizates, the gel content showed no effect on cure characteristics, crosslink density and ultimate tensile strength, whereas the upturn of stress occurred at a smaller strain when the gel content increased. However, in the case of carbon black filled vulcanizates, the gel content played a dominant role in the carbon black dispersion, which was poorer when gel content increased, contributing to a decrease of crosslink density and ultimate tensile strength. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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