Papers by Author: H. Nabil

Abstract: In this paper, the influence of recycled polyethylene terephthalate powder (R-PET) on fatigue life, thermal properties and micro-fracture surfaces of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and silica filled natural rubber composites have been studied. The total amount of hybrid filler in each formulation was kept constant at 20 parts per hundred rubber (phr). The final properties of HNTs/R-PET and Silica/R-PET compounds are considered separately and comparatively. Results indicated that the fatigue life of the natural rubber composites decreased with the replacement of these two fillers by R-PET powder. This observation might be due to the R-PET itself, which reduces the interfacial adhesion and wettability between rubber matrix and fillers. By replacing of HNTs and silica with R-PET powder, the thermal degradation of natural rubber composites was shifted to a lower temperature and the char residues was decreased, in which HNTs/R-PET composites expressed the higher temperature and char residues than silica/R-PET composites. This findings may be due to the HNTs/R-PET has less volatile matter than silica/R-PET that might enhance the degradation temperature of the natural rubber composites. SEM micrographs also exhibited weak interfacial adhesion when these two fillers were replaced with R-PET powder in NR composites.

Abstract: In this article, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and precipitated silica were replaced by recycled polyethylene terephthalate powder (R-PET) in natural rubber composites. Five different compositions of NR/HNTs/R-PET and NR/Silica/R-PET composites [i.e. 100/20/0, 100/15/5, 100/10/10, 100/5/15, and 100/0/20 parts per hundred rubber (phr)] were prepared on a two-roll-mill. Comparison of the curing behavior, tensile properties, and morphological characteristics of natural rubber composites was studied. The results indicated that the replacement of HNTs and silica by R-PET decreased the tensile strength, tensile modulus, and elongation at break of composites, but NR/Silica/R-PET composites showed the lower trend than that NR/HNTs/R-PET did. The negative effect of these properties could be explained by the decrement of crosslink density, R-PET is unable to be transferred the stress due to the weal rubber-fillers interactions, and the reducing of ductility of rubber matrix. The curing results revealed that, with replacement of HNTs and Silica by R-PET, the scorch time (ts2) and cure time (tc90) were decreased. Scanning electron microscopy investigation of tensile fracture surfaces confirmed that co-incorporation of NR/HNTs/R-PET would improve the dispersion of R-PET and enhanced the interactions between fillers and NR matrix rather than NR/Silica/R-PET composites.