Hydroxyapatite as a Potential Nanofiller in Technologically Useful Chlorinated Acrylonitrile Butadiene Rubber

This paper investigates the effect of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HA) on the cure characteristics, tensile and tear strength, elongation at break, hardness, abrasion resistance, heat build-up, resilience, glass transition temperature, oil resistance, alternating current (AC) conductivity and transport properties of chlorinated nitrile rubber (Cl-NBR). The maximum and minimum torque values were increased whereas the cure time values were decreased with the HA content in the Cl-NBR. The uniform dispersion of HA in Cl-NBR was obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed the increased glass transition temperature of Cl-NBR with the addition of HA particles. Mechanical properties, conductivity and oil resistance of the composites were greatly increased with the loading of hydroxyapatite. Diffusion results were explained in terms of the loading of nanoparticles and size of the penetrant molecules. Arrhenius and thermodynamic parameters for the diffusion process have been estimated and an anomalous diffusion mechanism was observed.