Abstract
This work describes the effect of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) addition in natural rubber (NR). Firstly, RGO was synthesized based on the improved Hummer’s method then characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to confirm that the RGO surface contains hydroxyl, epoxy, and carboxyl functional groups to improve graphene interaction with the NR matrix. In a second step, the synthesized RGO was predispersed in NR latex using the co-coagulation technique then added at different amounts (0 to 2 parts per hundred rubber (phr)) to a basic NR formulation and compounded in an internal mixer. The results show that the crosslink density of the developed NR/RGO nanocomposites increased by 65% for RGO concentration of 2.0 phr. For the same RGO concentration, a significant increase in tensile strength (53%) and Young’s modulus (31%) were also observed. Finally, a significant improvement (26%) of the thermal conductivity was obtained with the addition of only 0.5 phr of RGO.
