• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2019

China has become the second largest economy since 2010. China's economy is supported by the rapid growth of its automobile industry. The rapid growth of the automobile and tire industry will increase the natural rubber (NR) demand as its primary raw materials. Although as a significant producer, China cannot fulfill the consumption by its domestic production. Thus China relies heavily on import from Southeast Asia countries as the primary producers of natural rubber in the world. China and Southeast Asia are dependent on their economy in terms of the availability of natural rubber as raw materials. But the economic slowdown in China since 2008 is expected to affect the international trading between China and Southeast Asia countries. This research aims to analyze the determinants of NR export from Southeast Asia to China using panel data analysis. The results show NR price, exchange rate, and China's economic slowdown significantly affect NR export to China, while Southeast Asian NR production has no significant effect. China as the main importer of NR from Southeast Asia has a big role in growing NR export in Southeast Asia. If China's economy doesn't improve soon, it will affect the economy in Southeast Asia.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.252-259
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• 2006

A new route for making rubber/clay nanocomposites was suggested based on skim natural rubber latex (SNRL), which is a protein rich by-product obtained during the centrifugal concentration of natural rubber (NR) latex. NR/acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) based nanocomposites were prepared from SNRL and NBR latex of 26 % acrylonitrile content by blending of aqueous dispersion of organoclay (OC) followed by coagulation, drying, mill mixing and vulcanization. X-ray diffraction(XRD) studies revealed that NR/NBR blend nanocomposites exhibited a highly intercalated and exfoliated structure, especially for NBR-rich blends. Dynamic mechanical studies showed that more compatible behavior was observed for NBR-rich blends. The 25/75 NR/NBR blend nanocomposite showed the best mechanical properties.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.175-181
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• 2019

The research and development of high-performance polymer materials with excellent gas barrier properties has gained considerable attention from the viewpoint of expanding their applications in various fields, including tire automobile parts and the polymer film industry. Natural rubber (NR) has been widely used as a rubber material in real-life, but its application is limited owing to its poor gas barrier properties. In this paper, we study the gas barrier properties of NR, epoxidized natural rubber (ENR), and their blend compositions by using molecular simulation. The results show that ENR-50 has superior oxygen barrier properties than those of NR. Moreover, the oxygen barrier properties of a blend of NR/ENR-50 improve with increasing volume fraction of ENR-50. The trend of improved oxygen barrier properties of NR, ENR-50, and their blend is in good agreement with experimental observations.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2014

Natural rubber bound phenolic antioxidant, 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-vinylphenol (2,6-DBVP), was prepared from natural rubber and 2,6-DBVP in both solution and melt state. The 2,6-DBVP had been synthesized from 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and methyltriphenylphosphonium iodide ($MePPh_3I$) by Wittig reaction ($0^{\circ}C$ for 2 hrs, $N_2$ atmosphere). The conditions for preparation of natural rubber bound 2,6-DBVP (NR-DBVP) were optimized for both solution state (1 phr BPO and 8 phr 2,6-DBVP at $70^{\circ}C$ for 2 hrs) and for melt state (1 phr BPO and 8 phr 2,6-DBVP at $70^{\circ}C$ for 10 mins, with rotor speed of 60 rpm). A thermoplastic vulcanizate was obtained using a compatibilizer, polypropylene modified with phenolic resin (PhHRJ-PP), in a closed mixer ($180^{\circ}C$ for 3 mins, rotor speed 60 rpm). The antioxidant properties of vulcanized NR-DBVP, using phenolic as the vulcanization system, were similar to NR with the conventional antioxidant BHT. In addition, the antioxidant, water leaching property of the thermoplastic vulcanizate of NR-DBVP/PP were good in comparison to a NR blend with BHT; the morphologies of these thermoplastic vulcanizates were similar.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.332-340
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• 1999

Hydrogenations of BR and NR performed by a noncatalytic method using p-toluenesulphonylhydrazide were carried out by reactive processing. The experimental procedures for carrying out the reaction were established. Two steps comprising premixing of the rubber with TSH followed by hydrogenation in compression mould were proved to be suitable. The percentages of hydrogenation attained by reactive processing were higher than those of the reaction carried out in solution at the same [TSH]/[C=C] ratio, reaction temperature and time. In-creasing the reaction temperature and reaction time resulted in increases of the percentage of hydrogenation. For BR, the maximum percentage of hydrogenation obtained was 36% at [TSH]/[C=C]=1/1.5. For NR, the highest percentage of hydrogenation was 34% at [TSH]/[C=C]=1/1.5. Cis-trans isomerisation was also observed to occur during hydrogenation of both BR and NR. Thermal stabilities of the hydrogenated BR and NR were shown to improve over those or the unhydrogenated counterparts.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.215-226
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• 2000

Cure characteristics of carbon black-filled rubber compounds with different rubber composition were studied using a rheometer. The carbon black-filled rubber compounds with single, binary, and ternary rubber compositions of natural rubber (NR), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), and butadiene rubber (BR) were used. Delta-torques of the NR/BR- and SBR/BR-based compounds with a high BR content were higher than those of the single rubber-based compounds. For ternary rubber-based compounds, the delta-torques of the compounds were lower when the difference in the rubber content ratios was small than when it was big. Scorch and optimum cure times of the rubber compounds became shorter by increasing the content of NR in the compounds while those became longer by increasing the SBR content. Cure rates of the rubber compounds increased with a decrease of the SBR content in the rubber compounds. Reversion ratios decreased with an increase of the SBR content in the rubber compounds.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.128-135
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• 2023

To improve the adhesive strength of natural rubber (NR) for a seismic isolation damper, citraconic acid-g-NR (CCA-g-NR) was synthesized via the melt grafting of citraconic acid (CCA) onto NR using an azobisisnomerobutyronitrile (AIBN) initiator. Subsequently, the influence of CCA and AIBN concentrations on the graft ratio G/R (%) and graft efficiency G/E (%) of the CCA-g-NR was investigated. The optimum CCA and AIBN concentrations required to achieve the desired G/R (3.49%) and G/E (49.8%) were found to be 7 phr and 0.13 phr, respectively. Additionally, we studied the influence of CCA-g-NR concentration on the mechanical properties (tensile strength, elongation at break, and modulus at 300%), adhesive strength, and cure characteristics of the rubber compound in the seismic isolation damper. As the concentration of CCA-g-NR increased, the elongation at break and adhesive strength of the compound increased, whereas its tensile strength and modulus at 300% decreased. Moreover, as the concentration increased, the maximum torque decreased and the scorch time was delayed to obtain an optimal vulcanization time.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.201-208
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• 2021

In this study, the effect of petroleum resin on the mechanical strength, morphology, and vibration damping characteristics of natural rubber (NR) composites was observed. The NR composites plasticized by adding petroleum resin showed decreased hardness and mechanical properties. A morphology analysis indicated that as the amount of petroleum resin increased, carbon black aggregates (or agglomerates) observed at the fracture surface decreased, resulting in an improvement in the dispersibility. In addition, as 20 phr of petroleum resin was added, the effective damping temperature range increased by approximately 11.4%, the hysteresis loss rate increased by 15.2%, and the resilience decreased by 36.6%. Therefore, it was confirmed that the vibration damping characteristics improved with the addition of petroleum resin. This was because the rubber-filler interaction between the NR molecular chain of the NR composite and the carbon black particles improved by the addition of petroleum resin.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2001

Mechanical properties and their adhesion behavior with zinc- and brass-plated steel cords of natural rubber/acrylonitrile-butadiene blend compounds were investigated as a function of blend ratio. The Mooney viscosity and stress relaxation time were found to be lowered with increasing NBR content. Tensile modulus generally increased with increasing NBR content. Tensile stress at break stayed constant up to about 40 phr and showed minimum at $50{\sim}60 phr$, and thereafter increased with increasing NBR content. Strain at break decreased linearly below 50 phr, and above the level it showed nearly constant value. Based on the abrupt drops in elastic modulus and tan ${\delta}$ peak, the glass transition temperature of NR and NBR were found to be -55 and $-10^{\circ}C$, respectively. In the case of NR/NBR blend compounds, two distinct transition points were observed and each transition position was not affected by NBR level indicating an incompatible nature of NR/NBR blend system. The pullout force and rubber coverage decreased to the level of about 40% to that of pure m compound, when the 50 phr of NR was replaced by NBR. However, the pure NBR compound showed the comparable adhesion performance with NR(${\sim}90%$). The sulfur concentration was found to become lower with the increased NBR content at the adhesion interface based on the Auger spectrometer results, representing a lack of adhesion layer formation, and this was explained for a possible cause of low adhesion performance with adding NBR.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2000

The influence of mastication of natural rubber (NR) on properties of carbon black-filled NR compounds was studied. Variations of viscosities of the masticated NR and the carbon black-filled NR compound by heating were also investigated. The viscosities of the compounds decreased by increasing the mastication time of the raw rubber. The viscosities of the masticated NR and the compounds increased by increasing the heating time. This was explained by the combination reaction between functional groups in the rubber. The viscosity increment of the masticated rubber and the compounds by heating became larger with increased mastication time. Cure rate of the compound became faster by increasing the mastication time. Modulus of the vulcanizate made of the rubber masticated for a long time was higher than that of the vulcanizate made of the rubber masticated for a short time while elongation at break of the former was shorter than that of the latter. This was explained by the content of bound rubber and chain length of the rubber molecules.