Improvisation of Mechanical Properties on Natural Rubber Latex Nanocomposites with Additioning of Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNCs) Percolated by Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) in Various Concentrations

Abstract

The study on enhancing mechanical properties of natural rubber-based nanocomposites which was reinforced with nanofiller has been observed for many years. In this research, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which was prepared by hydrolyzing cellulose from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB), were percolated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using ultrasonicator to obtain CNCs@CNTs nanohybrid and utilized as the filler. Natural rubber latex/CNCs@CNTs nanocomposites were fabricated via latex mild mixing and coagulated by sulphuric acid followed by hydraulic hot-press. The mechanical properties of natural rubber latex/CNCs@CNTs nanocomposites were characterized using the tensile testing machine to evaluate the efficiency of the filler reinforcing the nanocomposites. On the other hand, the morphology of nanocomposite was observed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and its swelling index (SI) was calculated using ASTM D3616. Tensile test showed a significant increase in tensile strength of nanocomposites with the optimum number of 0.428 MPa and was achieved by nanocomposite consisting 3 phr of filler. Moreover, the least number of SI was also belonged to 3 phr filler of nanocomposites, which is 8.5. Finally, the morphology of nanocomposites exhibited the filler taking a prominent role in improving the mechanical properties.