Abstract

The main component of Natural rubber (NR) is cis-1,4-poly isoprene a renewable natural elastomer produced from the latex of rubber tree. NR has many excellent properties, such as outstanding resilience, high strength, tear resistance and good process ability. Therefore, it is compounded with various chemicals and fillers like carbon black, clay, silica in suitable high concentration to achieve wide range properties having many applications in industries. However, as many synthetic polymers, NR needs a lot of time to be degraded and using carbon black as a filler could cause pollution and gives to the rubber a black color that has a significantly negative effect on products. The aim of the present work was to study the mechanical properties of bio based materials from thermoplastic starch (TPS), natural rubber and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) used as a compatibilizer. The TPS/NR material was prepared by blending the plasticized starch with natural rubber latex and ENR in a Haake Rheomix 600 mixer. The morphology, mechanical and thermal properties of the material was investigated. The results show that the crystal structure of blend disappeared and thermal stability of material was not improved. Material had the best mechanical properties at TPS/NR ratio 30/70 with ENR content 15%wt.