Morphology and properties of blends of natural rubber and epoxidised natural rubber

The degree of compatibility of two component blends have been examined by many experimental techniques. The criterion is important as it influences the morphology and the mechanical properties of the blends. The blends employed are NR/ENR-48 and ENR-26/ENR-48 over a range of compositions and a 50:50 latex blend of ENR-31/ENR-43. Mixing of rubbers and crosslinking agent (dicumyl peroxide) was done on a small two-roll mill. A simple vulcanizate system is used in order to simplify interpretation of the morphological structure. [Continues.