Curing, thermal and mechanical properties of waste tyre derived reclaimed rubber - wood flour composites

The usage of polymer composites has increased dramatically with the years, especially composites with recycled waste materials since they aid in reducing the environmental pollution. The current study focuses on the use of both waste reclaimed rubber (RR) and wood flour (WF) to make sustainable polymer composites. The curing, thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of the composites were studied. Results showed that the cure rate index and elastic torque of the samples increased with the amount of WF. The mechanical properties of RR-WF composites decreased with increasing wood flour content and tensile strength dropped from 3.33 MPa to 1.35 MPa due to poor interfacial adhesion between WF and RR matrix. The glass transition temperature of styrene-butadiene rubber fraction in composites shifted from similar to 15 degrees C to 10 degrees C with the addition of WF showing incompatibility between the two phases. The scanning electron microscopy results confirmed incompatibility behavior within the composites as shown by pull-out characteristics of WF from the RR matrix at high content. The results showed that the composite with 10 phr of WF has superior thermal stability, water absorption, and mechanical properties compared to other composites.