A novel natural rubber-graft-cassava starch foam for oil/gasohol absorption

• Published in: Polymer international Vol. 65; no. 5; pp. 491 - 502
• Main Authors: Riyajan, Sa-Ad, Keawittarit, Pramort
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.05.2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Absorbents; biopolymer; Blends; Blowing agents; foam; Foams; graft copolymer; Grafting; modification; Natural rubber; Plastic foam; sponge; starch; Starches
• ISSN: 0959-8103; 1097-0126
• DOI: 10.1002/pi.5062

The objective of this work was to study a novel foam prepared from natural rubber grafted with cassava starch (NR‐graft‐CSt) with the addition of super cell (SC) as a blowing agent. The effects of the blowing agent and grafting versus non‐grafting of the starch and the natural rubber on the properties of the foam were investigated. The results show that the optimum curing time decreases with increasing SC loading as observed using a moving die rheometer. The porosity, the number of cells per unit volume and the cell size of the NR/CSt blend increase as a function of the SC loading in the foam. A more open cell structure is produced by higher loadings of SC. The greatest number of cells per unit volume is found at 2 and 6 phr SC for NR‐graft‐CSt and NR/CSt blend, respectively. The foam produced was used as an absorbent for oil. The NR‐graft‐CSt foam shows a maximum percentage oil absorption of around 7 g g−1. The NR‐graft‐CSt foam is able to be reused as an oil absorbent for a maximum number of over 30 times. The NR‐graft‐CSt foam shows better toluene resistance than the NR/CSt blend. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry A biodegradable elastomer foam showed a good ability to remove oil, with a high oil‐absorption capacity, and was able to be reused as an oil absorbent for a maximum number of over 30 times.