Biodegradation behaviour of natural rubber composites reinforced with natural resource fillers - monitoring by soil burial test

Biodegradation studies of natural rubber composites reinforced with natural resource fillers like peanut shell powder and coconut shell powder of 10 and 40 parts per hundred part of rubber (phr) filler loadings were carried out under soil burial conditions for three/six months. The extent of biodegradation of natural rubber and natural rubber composites were evaluated through tensile strength and hardness measurements. It was observed that the durability of the composites was greatly dependent on chemical treatment, filler particle size and filler content. The stability of composites decreased with increase in filler content. Composites containing chemically treated fillers were found to be more resistant to soil erosion. But composites containing larger sized fillers were found to be less resistant to soil erosion. Surface morphology of the composites was determined using scanning electron microscopy to evaluate the degradation of the samples. The results indicate that the tensile strength and hardness were decreased after soil burial testing due to the possible biological attack by microbes onto the samples.