scholarly journals Natural Rubber Biocomposites Filled with Phyto-Ashes Rich in Biogenic Silica Obtained from Wheat Straw and Field Horsetail

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1177
Author(s):  
Marcin Masłowski ◽  
Justyna Miedzianowska ◽  
Maciej Delekta ◽  
Agnieszka Czylkowska ◽  
Krzysztof Strzelec

The rich structural hierarchy of plants permits the obtainment of porous structures which can be expected to show improved performances in fields such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, catalysis, drug delivery, adsorption, separation or sensors in various chemical reactions. On the other hand, porous materials can be an active additive to polymer composites. The aim of the study was to obtain natural rubber (NR) biocomposites with the addition of phyto-ashes reach in biogenic silica from plant biomass. For the production of bioadditives, a two-stage method of high-temperature heat treatment was used, preceded by acid hydrolysis of plant tissues in the form of horsetail and wheat straw. Hydrolysis was performed with hydrochloric and citric acid. The efficiency of the processes and their influence on the elemental composition, surface morphology, thermal stability and particle size of the fillers were determined. Modified bioadditives were introduced into the elastomer matrix and their processing properties, as well as the vulcanization characteristics, were examined. Static mechanical properties (tensile strength, elongation at break, stress at 100%, 200% and 300% elongation), dynamic-mechanical analysis and the influence of additives on the cross-link density of the composites were determined. Structural analysis was performed using scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the field horsetail and cereal straw are plants rich in many valuable chemical compounds, especially silica. The specific and appropriate treatment of these plants can lead to bioadditives that significantly affect the properties of rubber materials.

2021 ◽  
Vol 317 ◽  
pp. 300-304
Author(s):  
Mazlina Mustafa Kamal

In recent years, automotive hose and belt specifications have changed, requiring longer product life in terms of swelling, wear and heat ageing. Diene-based rubbers, such as natural rubber (NR) and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), have been widely used in diverse industries. However, some apparent defects such as limited ageing resistance and large compression set, have been demonstrated in some rubbers cured by sulfur or peroxides. In the making of general and industrial rubber goods, short production and sufficient scorch time is crucial especially by using an injection moulding. In this work, blend of Epoxidised Natural Rubber (ENR 25) and Butadiene was developed with two types of curing systems namely Conventional and Efficient Vulcanisation system. The aim of the study is to produce a satisfactory heat resistance rubber compounds and adequate process safety for rubber manufacturing. Results showed that curing system applied significantly affected thermal stability property of the compounds. Modulus and hardness of the blends appeared to decrease progressively with ageing. However, greater thermal stability especially ageing at 100°C for 200h was observed with compound containing efficient curing system compared to conventional curing system which corresponded to the cross link density attributed by the torque value and dynamic mechanical analysis. The results on stiffness however was effected by the curing system applied. The influence of cure temperature on the chemical crosslink density on both cure systems are being investigated. The network results will be correlated with the technical properties.


2012 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 565-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jobish Johns ◽  
Charoen Nakason ◽  
Anoma Thitithammawong ◽  
Pairote Klinpituksa

ABSTRACT A novel and inexpensive method for vulcanizing natural rubber by using glutaraldehyde was introduced. The vulcanized rubber samples were prepared by adding various amounts of glutaraldehyde to medium ammonia natural rubber latex. Cross-linking reaction occurred only in the presence of ammonium hydroxide in natural rubber latex upon the addition of glutaraldehyde. Cross-linked rubber has been obtained by reacting natural rubber with pentane-1,5-diylidenediamine formed from the reaction between glutaraldehyde and ammonia. The vulcanized materials were characterized by mechanical analysis and thermogravimetry. The results revealed an improvement in mechanical and thermal properties by vulcanization. Activation energy of degradation has been calculated using the Horowitz-Metzger equation. The cross-link density of the vulcanized rubber was determined from swelling experiments in benzene. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy has been employed to confirm the cross-linking reaction between rubber molecules. From the overall characterizations, natural rubber vulcanized with 12 mL of 10% glutaraldehyde exhibited better properties.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 2527
Author(s):  
Zahra Azzouz ◽  
Azzeddine Bettache ◽  
Nawel Boucherba ◽  
Alicia Prieto ◽  
Maria Jesus Martinez ◽  
...  

Plant biomass constitutes the main source of renewable carbon on the planet. Its valorization has traditionally been focused on the use of cellulose, although hemicellulose is the second most abundant group of polysaccharides on Earth. The main enzymes involved in plant biomass degradation are glycosyl hydrolases, and filamentous fungi are good producers of these enzymes. In this study, a new strain of Aspergillus niger was used for hemicellulase production under solid-state fermentation using wheat straw as single-carbon source. Physicochemical parameters for the production of an endoxylanase were optimized by using a One-Factor-at-a-Time (OFAT) approach and response surface methodology (RSM). Maximum xylanase yield after RSM optimization was increased 3-fold, and 1.41- fold purification was achieved after ultrafiltration and ion-exchange chromatography, with about 6.2% yield. The highest activity of the purified xylanase was observed at 50 °C and pH 6. The enzyme displayed high thermal and pH stability, with more than 90% residual activity between pH 3.0–9.0 and between 30–40 °C, after 24 h of incubation, with half-lives of 30 min at 50 and 60 °C. The enzyme was mostly active against wheat arabinoxylan, and its kinetic parameters were analyzed (Km = 26.06 mg·mL−1 and Vmax = 5.647 U·mg−1). Wheat straw xylan hydrolysis with the purified β-1,4 endoxylanase showed that it was able to release xylooligosaccharides, making it suitable for different applications in food technology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbora Vojáčková ◽  
Jan Tippner ◽  
Petr Horáček ◽  
Luděk Praus ◽  
Václav Sebera ◽  
...  

Failure of a tree can be caused by a stem breakage, tree uprooting, or branch failure. While the pulling test is used for assessing the first two cases, there is no device-supported method to assess branch failure. A combination of the optical technique, pulling test, and deflection curve analysis could provide a device-supported tool for this kind of assessment. The aim of the work was to perform a structural analysis of branch response to static mechanical loading. The analyses were carried out by finite element simulations in ANSYS using beam tapered elements of elliptical cross-sections. The numerical analyses were verified by the pulling test combined with a sophisticated optical assessment of deflection evaluation. The Probabilistic Design System was used to find the parameters that influence branch mechanical response to loading considering the use of cantilever beam deflection for stability analysis. The difference in the branch’s deflection between the simulation and the experiment is 0.5% to 26%. The high variability may be explained by the variable modulus of the elasticity of branches. The finite element (FE) sensitivity analysis showed a higher significance of geometry parameters (diameter, length, tapering, elliptical cross-section) than material properties (elastic moduli). The anchorage rotation was found to be significant, implying that this parameter may affect the outcome in mechanical analysis of branch behavior. The branch anchorage can influence the deflection of the whole branch, which should be considered in stability assessment.


2012 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 1316-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost van den Brink ◽  
Gonny C. J. van Muiswinkel ◽  
Bart Theelen ◽  
Sandra W. A. Hinz ◽  
Ronald P. de Vries

ABSTRACTRapid and efficient enzymatic degradation of plant biomass into fermentable sugars is a major challenge for the sustainable production of biochemicals and biofuels. Enzymes that are more thermostable (up to 70°C) use shorter reaction times for the complete saccharification of plant polysaccharides compared to hydrolytic enzymes of mesophilic fungi such asTrichodermaandAspergillusspecies. The genusMyceliophthoracontains four thermophilic fungi producing industrially relevant thermostable enzymes. Within this genus, isolates belonging toM. heterothallicawere recently separated from the well-described speciesM. thermophila. We evaluate here the potential ofM. heterothallicaisolates to produce efficient enzyme mixtures for biomass degradation. Compared to the other thermophilicMyceliophthoraspecies, isolates belonging toM. heterothallicaandM. thermophilagrew faster on pretreated spruce, wheat straw, and giant reed. According to their protein profiles andin vitroassays after growth on wheat straw, (hemi-)cellulolytic activities differed strongly betweenM. thermophilaandM. heterothallicaisolates. Compared toM. thermophila,M. heterothallicaisolates were better in releasing sugars from mildly pretreated wheat straw (with 5% HCl) with a high content of xylan. The high levels of residual xylobiose revealed that enzyme mixtures ofMyceliophthoraspecies lack sufficient β-xylosidase activity. Sexual crossing of twoM. heterothallicashowed that progenies had a large genetic and physiological diversity. In the future, this will allow further improvement of the plant biomass-degrading enzyme mixtures ofM. heterothallica.


2021 ◽  
pp. 51880
Author(s):  
Renivaldo J. Santos ◽  
Carlos T. Hiranobe ◽  
Guilherme Dognani ◽  
Michael J. Silva ◽  
Leonardo L. Paim ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan He ◽  
Zhifang Cao ◽  
Lianxiang Ma

A new procedure for the fabrication of natural rubber composite with aligned carbon nanotubes is provided in this study. The two-step approach is based on (i) the preparation of mixture latex of natural rubber, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, and other components and (ii) the orientation of carbon nanotubes by a flow field. Rubber composite sheets filled with variable volume fraction of aligned carbon nanotubes were fabricated and then confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy studies. An obvious increase in thermal conductivity has been obtained after the alignment of carbon nanotubes. The dynamic mechanical analysis was carried out in a tear mode for the composite.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 5789
Author(s):  
Olga Mysiukiewicz ◽  
Mateusz Barczewski ◽  
Arkadiusz Kloziński

Polylactide-based composites filled with waste fillers due to their sustainability are a subject of many current papers, in which their structural, mechanical, and thermal properties are evaluated. However, few studies focus on their behavior in low temperatures. In this paper, dynamic and quasi-static mechanical properties of polylactide-based composites filled with 10 wt% of linseed cake (a by-product of mechanical oil extraction from linseed) were evaluated at room temperature and at −40 °C by means of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), Charpy’s impact strength test and uniaxial tensile test. It was found that the effect of plasticization provided by the oil contained in the filler at room temperature is significantly reduced in sub-zero conditions due to solidification of the oil around −18 °C, as it was shown by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and DMA, but the overall mechanical performance of the polylactide-based composites was sufficient to enable their use in low-temperature applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasaq Olawale Medupin ◽  
Oladiran Kamardeen Abubakre ◽  
Ambali Saka Abdulkareem ◽  
Rasheed Aremu Muriana ◽  
Asipita Salawu Abdulrahman

AbstractThis research is motivated by the desire to restore the quality of life to amputees. The study uses multi-walled carbon nanotube (WMCNT) reinforced natural rubber (NR) polymer nanocomposite (PNC) for prosthetic foot application. The compound formulation was carried out in accordance to a modified procedure described by Hemkaew et al. Mixing of the ingredients during vulcanisation was performed according to ASTM D-3182 standard on an open two-roll mill. The various compositions of the nanocomposites (NCs) were cured at a temperature of 150 ± 2 °C and a pressure of 0.2 MPa for 10 minutes in an electrically heated hydraulic press. Mechanical investigation revealed that NR/MWCNT-3 exhibited the highest capacity to withstand tensile and dynamic loading (449.79 MPa). It also showed superior filler distribution and hence improved crystallinity and cross-link. Water absorption test indicated that NR/MWCNT-3 offers optimum dimensional stability at ambient conditions. Moreover, thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermogravimetry (TGA/DTG) showed degradation peaks at 305 °C and 290 °C respectively with temperature range within which the NCs degraded lying between 250 °C and 600 °C. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed that filler incorporation results in higher storage and loss moduli (2000–7500 MPa and 500–1413 MPa respectively). Tan δ curves proved that NR/MWCNT-3 has the highest capacity to dissipate energy through segmental motion. Furthermore, microstructure examination confirmed good filler/matrix adhesion as NR/MWCNT-3 indicated improved interaction; hence higher strength (6.02 MPa) of the NC. Better wear resistance ability can also be reported of the newly developed than existing prosthetic material. It can be deduced that the formulated nanocomposite from MWCNTs for reinforced natural rubber is suitable for the development of the anthropomorphic prosthetic foot.


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