EFFECT OF NANO ZINC OXIDE ON TENSILE PROPERTIES OF NATURAL RUBBER COMPOSITE

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of Nano-zinc oxide on tensile properties of natural rubber composites by replacing the conventional zinc oxide by Nano-zinc oxide as an activator. It has a small particle size and large surface area in comparison with conventional zinc oxide. In this paper, one compound has a conventional zinc oxide as an activator with concentration 8phr (part per hundred rubber), and eight compounds have Nano-zinc oxide as an activator with concentrations of (0.2, 0.6, 1, 1.4, 1.8, 2.2, 2.6, and 4) phr. The tensile test sample carried out by using the Monsanto T10 Tensometer. Results showed that the maximum values of tensile strength and elastic modulus at 300% are found with Nano-zinc oxide at 1.8 phr. Replacing the conventional zinc oxide by Nano-zinc oxide decreased the price of the compounds because of reducing the amount of zinc oxide inside the compounds by 77.5%. It also reduced the contamination of the environment and improved the tensile strength by 38.31%.