The effects of nano-cellulose filler on tensile and thermal properties of natural rubber latex films

Latex products are generally not very eco-friendly in term of their biodegradability. Thus, in this work, nano-cellulose (NC) into the latex films function to provide biodegradable characteristics into the latex products. The NC is added in natural rubber (NR) latex as fillers at different loading (0, 1, 3 and 5 phr). The unfilled (control) and NC filled NR latex films are prepared through a coagulant dipping process. The NR latex films prepared are subjected to the swelling test to attain the crosslinks density and zeta potential test to measure the stability of NC in the NR latex compounds. The NR latex films also are subjected to tensile properties such as tensile strength, elongation at break, moduli (M100, M300 and M500) to acquire the mechanical properties of NC filled NR latex films. The results showed the tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EB) decreased with increasing NC loading with the higher value of TS is obtained at 1 phr NC loading. The contrary results are shown for moduli (M100, M300 and M300) with the addition of NC in NR latex films due to the increase of hardness contributes from NC. The thermal stability of NC filled NR latex film also improved compared to unfilled NR latex films. The morphology of NC filled NR latex film shows good dispersion of NC on NR matrix at low NC loading. The incorporation of a small amount of NC (1 phr) into latex films overall retained the properties of NR latex films with indicates the suitability as biodegradable fillers.