Advanced Materials Research Vol. 812

Abstract: Recently, aromatic oil (AO) is one of the substances that is typically used as a processing aid especially for high filler loadings in formulating rubber compound. Aromatic oil has disadvantages in that, it is hazardous to environment, toxic and has been labeled as carcinogenic. In this research, an epoxidised oil (EO) and aromatic oil were used to investigate the effect incorporation of oil onto the SBR/NR natural rubber vulcanizates (NR). From the result obtained, EO showed shorter cure time and scorch time as the oil loading were increased up to 20 pphr of EO. Physical properties such as hardness and rebound resilience of NR/EO vulcanisate were also investigated upon exposure to different humidity level in humidity chamber. At room temperature, the hardness of EO loading onto the SBR/NR vulcanisate is lower than AO loadings. Hardness was slightly decreased with increasing rate of humidity. There is great difference in hardness and rebound resilience values between AO and EO. Both hardness and rebound resilience were not affected by humidity. This implies the existence of good filler interaction with EO and rubber which do not impart changes in the hardness and resilience properties of rubber compound. Epoxidised oil has great promising potential to replace the carcinogenic aromatic oil as it has good overall performance and renewable in nature .

Abstract: This study is to measure the effect of various rice husks particle size on density, tensile strength, Youngs modulus and elongation at break of PPVC composite. Rice husk was grind before being sieved to particle sizes of 60 μm, 60 μm < particle size 80 μm, and 80 μm < particle size 100μm. Each size was compounded with PPVC at same filler loading which is 20 % rice husk and being pressed using hot press machine. Tensile strength, Youngs modulus and elongation at break increased as particle size increases. The highest value for tensile strength, Youngs modulus and elongation at break are 21.48 MPa, 1344.88 MPa and 2.29 % respectively. However, it is different for density result which decreased as particle size increases. The results obtained from the study shows that the bigger the size of the rice husks, the better the composite tensile properties.

Abstract: Rice husk is an agricultural waste produced in bulk quantity as a part of rice milling. There have been many approaches in utilizing rice husk as fillers in polymer composite. However, recycled PVC has not been reported to be used in PVC/rice husk composites yet. In this research, a good interfacial interaction between rice husk and recycled polyvinylchloride has been achieved by incorporation of aminosilane as coupling agent. The aminosilane treated recycled polyvinyl chloride was mixed with rice husk and then fabricated by using hot compression moulding. Three different ratio of rice husk to recycled polyvinyl chloride were used which is 65/35, 55/45 and 45/55 as shown in Table 1. The positive effect of rice husk reinforcement as well as surface treatment has been reflected in the improved tensile properties of the resulting polyvinyl chloride based composite. However, flexural stress of the treated composite drops with increasing filler percentage. The incorporation of aminosilane as coupling agent increases the tensile stress of 45 wt% of rice husk significantly. Scanning electron microscopy has been used to understand the failure mechanisms of aminosilane modified rice husk filled recycled polyvinylchloride composites. The findings can be used to increase the effort in recycling rice husk and PVC.

Abstract: Research on parameters influencing seam pucker has been quite intensive in the past decade. The difficulties associated with accurate predictions of the interaction between sewing parameters and fabrics properties. Traditional approach of matching variety of sewing parameters with unlimited fabric properties through personal experience has been a challenge in the apparel industry which increased the cost of production due to reprocess or rejection. Hence, in the present study, an alternative mathematical modeling known as Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was proposed to predict the seam puckering grading together with the usage of high end instrumentation for fabric known as Kawabata Evaluation System (KES-F). The KES-F determined 16 parameters related to handle properties of a fabric and SEM produced prediction equation based on a few selected important parameters. The results show that equation by SEM can be used to predict the level of seam puckering of different categories of fabric weights. Good comparisons with the experimental and previous studies demonstrate the ability of the model to be used as a predictive tool for textile materials particularly for seam puckering.

Abstract: The influences of Carbon Black (CB) as filler for rubber toughened polyester composite on thermal properties were investigated, in consideration for applications such as automotive parts and integrated circuits (IC) encapsulations. The usage of CB as filler is one of the efforts in increasing and varying the use of rubber and unsaturated polyester thermoset in composite materials. Unsaturated polyester was mixed with 3% liquid natural rubber (LNR) as toughening agent and CB, which were varied from 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10% using mechanical stirrer and moulded by using the open mould technique. Impact testing was conducted for mechanical property and it was found that the addition of CB increased the impact strength by 87%. Thermal properties of the composites were evaluated using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The TGA curves of the composites were quite similar, but there were slight increment in thermal stability for several CB filled composites compared to the neat polyester matrix. DSC analysis showed that all the composites were fully cured, and CB filled composites had a slower heat flow rate compared to the neat rubber toughened composite.

Abstract: The objective of this study is to determine the mechanical and physical properties of Particleboard made from modified particle of Kelampayan (Neolamarckia cadamba). The particles were modified with Silane and Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) by soaked the particle for 24 hours with different ratio ( Kelampayan + Silane, Kelampayan + NaOH, and Kelampayan + Silane + NaOH). The result showed that the mechanical and dimensional stability of the treated wood were improved. Particleboard made from 0.8 mesh particles treated with Silane and NaOH were highest value of bending strength modulus of rapture (MOR) 22.89MPa, modulus of elasticity (MOE) 3916.88MPa and Internal Bond properties 0.48214 MPa whereby particleboard made from 0.5 mesh particles treated by Silane were highest value for bending strength (MOR) 15.75MPa, MOE 2905.34 and Internal Bond properties 0.5748MPa.Outcome of this proposed research will provided valuable databases to the wood based industry to use Kelampayan as an alternative raw material in their down streams production such as particleboard, medium-density board and chipboard manufacturing.

Abstract: In this research, the thermal properties of 30% filler loading of natural fibers with varying filler loadings of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) were studied. CaCO₃ was compounded using twin-screw extruder with rice husk/high density polyethylene (HDPE) and kenaf/HDPE composites to produce composites. Compounded composites were prepared and tested for thermal properties. The thermal stability of the components was examined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) to identify the influence of CaCO₃ filler loading on thermal properties of the composites. The cycle heating for TGA was 30-800°C while for differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) was 30-300°C. Melting temperature (T_m) of kenaf/HDPE hybrid composites increased slightly with addition of 10% CaCO₃. However, decreasing T_m was found for all CaCO₃ filler loading in rice husk/HDPE composites. The DSC analysis showed that the degree of crystallinity (X_c) of hybrid composite decrease with the addition of CaCO₃ filler loading. From TGA result, CaCO₃/kenaf/HDPE hybrid composite showed better thermal stability compared to CaCO₃/rice husk/HDPE hybrid composite.

Abstract: A multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/plasticized polylactic acid (PLA) composite was prepared using a two-roll mill set at 170°C and 50 rev/min. The material was characterized using dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). Characterization works include obtaining mechanical properties, such as tensile and flexural properties of the nanocomposites. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) at 6 wt% was used as the plasticizer for blending with the PLA. It was found that the tensile and flexural strengths of the nanocomposites increased up to 43.8 MPa and 81.4 MPa respectively with the addition of 0.15 wt% MWCNTs. The DMA results revealed that the storage modulus and the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the nanocomposites improved with the addition of 0.15 wt% CNTs, which was previously reduced by the incorporation of PEG.

Abstract: Recycled polypropylene/microcrystalline cellulose (rPP/MCC) composites were prepared by adding different loadings of maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) coupling agent. The tensile, impact and morphological properties of the composites were investigated. The obtained results show that the tensile and impact strengths of the composites were significantly enhanced with the addition of MAPP loading from 2 to 5 wt%, as compared with unfilled rPP/MCC composites. However, it was found that at low filler content, different amounts of MAPP resulted in no appreciable change in the tensile strength and modulus. Moreover, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results indicated that, increasing the amount of MAPP loading from 2 to 5 wt% in rPP/MCC provide better stiffness of the composite compared to those neat rPP and neat PP. Field emission scanning microscopy (FESEM) has shown that the composite, with MAPP loading, promotes better fibermatrix interaction.

Abstract: Acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) or nitrile rubber is an unsaturated copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile. NBR has been widely used for fuel hoses, seals and gaskets due to its excellent oil and fuel resistance. Aiming to develop NBR which has resistance to oxygenated solvent, NBR with acrylonitrile content of 34 wt%, was blended with Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and Poly (Styrene-co-Acrylonitrile) (SAN) as binary polymer systems. The NBR/ABS and SAN blends were prepared by mechanical blending in the composition of 80/20, 70/30 and 60/40 w/w. The effects of ABS or SAN content on mechanical, morphological and thermal properties were investigated and compared with commercials NBR. Mechanical properties were determined using the tensile testing machine. The morphologies of polymer blends were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The thermal properties were examined using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). It has been found that percent compatibility of ABS and SAN into NBR rich phase are 2.69 and 1.53 wt% respectively.