Ren Xianjie, Barrera Cindy S, Tardiff Janice L, Cornish Katrina
Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster, OH 44691, USA.
Research and Advanced Engineering, Ford Motor Company, 2101 Village Rd, Dearborn, MI 48124, USA.
Materials (Basel). 2022 Jun 1;15(11):3946. doi: 10.3390/ma15113946.
Production of petroleum-based synthetic rubbers (SRs) causes an enormous carbon footprint for the rubber industry. Carbon footprint would be reduced if natural rubber (NR) could take a larger market share and replace significant quantities of SR. However, some SRs have higher oil resistance than NRs, and, in applications where these properties are needed, chemically modified NR will be required. Epoxidation is a chemical modification of NR which partially converts unsaturated bonds on the backbone of NR to epoxy groups. In this research, epoxidized guayule natural rubber (EGNR)/guayule natural rubber (GNR) blends and GNR were used to make carbon black (CB) filled composites. The processability, mechanical properties, swelling behaviors and dynamic mechanical properties were characterized at various epoxide fractions. Composites made with EGNR/GNR had higher oil resistance, wet traction and stiffness than GNR composites, although tensile strength and elongation at break were reduced by epoxidation. EGNR is expected to lead to the development of new NR products with similar properties to SR, eroding SR markets and increasing the sustainability of the rubber industry.
石油基合成橡胶（SRs）的生产给橡胶行业带来了巨大的碳足迹。如果天然橡胶（NR）能够占据更大的市场份额并取代大量的SR，碳足迹将会降低。然而，一些SRs比NRs具有更高的耐油性，在需要这些性能的应用中，将需要化学改性的NR。环氧化是NR的一种化学改性，它将NR主链上的不饱和键部分转化为环氧基团。在本研究中，环氧化银胶菊天然橡胶（EGNR）/银胶菊天然橡胶（GNR）共混物和GNR被用于制备炭黑（CB）填充复合材料。在不同的环氧化分数下对其加工性能、力学性能、溶胀行为和动态力学性能进行了表征。与GNR复合材料相比，用EGNR/GNR制成的复合材料具有更高的耐油性、湿牵引性和硬度，尽管环氧化会降低拉伸强度和断裂伸长率。预计EGNR将导致开发出与SR性能相似的新型NR产品，侵蚀SR市场并提高橡胶行业的可持续性。
