Wednesday, December 30, 2015

THE EFFECT OF VEGETABLE PLASTICIZER ON THE PROPERTIES OF NATURAL RUBBER/POLYPROPYLENE BASED THERMOPLASTIC ELASTOMER

Dwi Wahini Nurhajati*, Supraptiningsih, Nursamsi Sarengat
ABSTRACT
Vegetable plasticizer is a plasticizer that is derived from renewable raw materials, used as an alternative to petroleum-based plasticizer. The purpose of this research was to compare the effect of the vegetable and petroleum plasticizers on the mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). Vegetable plasticizer used in this study was a modified castor oil. Natural rubber/polypropylene (KA/PP) based TPE was made in an internal mixer at a temperature of 180ÂșC with various KA/PP ratio and type of plasticizer. In general, modified castor oil as a plasticizer has a more positive effect on the mechanical properties of TPE in various ratios of KA/PP, mainly related to improvement of properties of tensile strength, elongation at break and flexing resistance 100 kcs. The best formula of TPE is a TPE that is composed of KA/PP 60/40 using modified castor oil. XRD results showed that TPE is dominated by amorphous phase.
Keywords: castor oil, natural rubber, polypropylene, TPE

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