Degradation Test of Natural Rubber/Chitosan Composite

Degradable materials from 20wt% chitosan loading and natural rubber (CS/NR) were prepared by solution casting without surface treatment to study their thermal and mechanical properties after degradation test in aging condition. The test was done in an acrylic degradation box with 600 W light and high humidity for accelerate degradation condition. Samples included high ammonia concentrated latex (HA) with no filler, fresh latex (FL) with no filler, HA with chitosan filler, FL with chitosan filler, and natural rubber with shrimp shell filler to compare the result with chitosan filler. After degradation test, thermal properties from TGA both before and after degradation showed that the fillers effected on these composite materials. TGA result of CS/NR composite with aging at temperature 100 °C for 10 h and 20 h showed that chitosan slightly effected on thermal stability of composites when compare to natural rubber. SEM images were compared before and after degradation of HA and FL with no filler, chitosan filler, and shrimp shell. It was clearly seen that the samples degraded as the shape and size were changed. Tensile testing values showed that longer aging time could lead to the degradation in CS/HA and lower the tensile strength.