Thermo-Mechanical Performance of Natural Rubber/Recycled Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Rubber Blends in the Presence of ZnO Nanoparticles

Abstract

In the present study, recycled ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (R-EPDM) was used in an attempt to create a value added natural rubber (NR) material based on NR/R-EPDM blends. ZnO nanoparticles were also incorporated in a way to replace the conventional ZnO together with a special attention to improve the thermo-mechanical performance of the blends. Polyhedral and spherical shapes of ZnO nanoparticles were synthesised and it was found to have no impurities with a dimension ranging from 10 -40 nm. ZnO nanoparticles not only act as a curing activator but also improve the thermal stability and dynamic mechanical properties of the blends.

Fabrication of antibacterial casein-based ZnO nanocomposite for flexible coatings

“…Thus constructing green and antimicrobial coatings with ZnO NPs provides further potential applications for functional materials in numerous fields [6]. Various natural polymer-based ZnO nanocomposite coatings have been studied in recent years, such as chitosan/ZnO [7], cellulose/ZnO [8], starch/ZnO [9] and rubber/ZnO [10].…”