Cellulose Nanofibers Isolated from the <i>Cuscuta Reflexa</i> Plant as a Green Reinforcement of Natural Rubber

oleh: Midhun Dominic C.D., Rani Joseph, P.M. Sabura Begum, Meera Joseph, Dileep Padmanabhan, Leonna Angela Morris, Athira S Kumar, Krzysztof Formela

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-04-01

Deskripsi

In the present work, we used the steam explosion method for the isolation of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) from <i>Cuscuta reflexa</i>, a parasitic plant commonly seen in Kerala and we evaluated its reinforcing efficiency in natural rubber (NR). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques indicated that type I cellulose nanofibers, with diameter: 10–30 nm and a 67% crystallinity index were obtained by the proposed method. The results showed that application of CNF in NR based nanocomposites resulted in significant improvement of their processing and performance properties. It was observed that the tensile strength and tear strength of NR/CNF nanocomposites are found to be a maximum at 2 phr CNF loading, which corresponds with the studies of equilibrium swelling behavior. Dynamic mechanical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and morphological studies of tensile fractured samples also confirm that CNF isolated from <i>Cuscuta reflexa</i> plant can be considered as a promising green reinforcement for rubbers.