Study on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Rubber Latex Composites with SiO2 Addition

he Study on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Rubber Latex Composites with SiO2
addition have two main objectives which are to study and establish the physical and mechanical
properties of the rubber wood lignin composites and evaluate the oil resistance effect of RWL
composites with SiO2 addition. Silica sand that used in this project is collected from around
Tronoh and has the particles size of less than 43μm. There is a derivation of process of new
lignin from Malaysian Rubber tree but there is still no establishment on their relevant properties.
This project will investigate the good property of rubber wood lignin and silica sand by produce
a newly improved rubber and establish on relevant physical and mechanical properties of the
rubber wood lignin composites with silica sand addition. This study will cover the understanding
of composites advantages. The preparation of silica sand to produce 43μm size is by using ball
milling. This silica will through the mixing process with sulphur as cure agent and zinc oxide as
activator and lignin as additive in rubber. After mixing, the rubber composites will be stored in
the bottle for maturation for two days, and casting. The rubber film will be rinse off with water
and hanging for one day. The last process is drying in oven at 100oC for 30 min and stamping
into the dumbbell and circular shape for further testing. The result obtains is elastic modulus
increasing from 0.043MPa for Batch 1 to 0.095MPa for Batch 2 and 0.142MPa for Batch 3. The
same pattern can be observed for Batch 4 which has a value of 0.085MPa and 0.100 for Batch 5.
The FESEM study shown us that in Batch 2 and Batch 4 there have silica agglomerates caused
by the non-uniform distribution of silica in rubber compound which leads to brittlement of the
material. Based on swelling testing results, Batch 1 (control) was less resistance to oil, 125% due
to unsaturated polymer which is degrades in oil. Oil resistance was far worse when the
percentage of silica content was 6%, 141.7% for Batch 2 and 120.4% for Batch 4 as compared to
111.6% for Batch 3 and 92.1% for Batch 5 which has 12% of silica contents which were
improved. Therefore, the good physical property in oil resistance was established in Batch 3 and
Batch 5 will give huge contribution in industrial and automotive industry.