Thermal, Morphological and Physic-Mechanical Properties of Natural Rubber - CaCO3 Composites Using Jatropha Oil as Softener.

The urgency of green technology in rubber compounding has become a critical issue recently. In this research, the effect of using renewable resources in rubber compounding has been studied. Commercial Calcium Carbonate, Silica and Jatropha Oil were used in natural rubber composite. The research was designed by varying the types of commercial filler namely CaCO3 (47-51) phr, silica (47-51) phr and Jatropha Oil (4-6) phr in natural rubber composites (SIR-20). The formulas were intentionally designed for rubber tips vulcanizates. The samples were characterized by the determination of physic-mechanical, thermal (TGA) and morphological (SEM) properties. From the measured results, there is no significant effect on the tensile strength, specific gravity, and hardness on the loading of commercial CaCO3 and Silica in natural rubber composites using Jatropha Oil. However, a slight difference in elongation at break and abrasion resistance could be detected. Compared to the commercial rubber tips, the rubber tips produced in this research have higher tensile strength, elongation at break and abrasion resistance. Due to the usage of commercial CaCO3 and Silica, the SEM micrographs show rough surface because of the agglomeration. The thermogram shows clearly the compositional analysis of the rubber tips vulcanizates consist of Jatropha Oil and natural rubber, CaCO3, ash and other filler residues such as Silica