Short fiber-rubber composites reinforcement

The reinforcement of rubbers using nylon, rayon, vinyl, and polyester fibers was reported by various authors [10,58,73-75]. Because of the design flexibility and suitable end-use applications, high-performance fibers such as glass, carbon, and aramid also find extensive applications in short fiber-reinforced mbbers. A brief description of some of the major high-performance fibers commonly used in short fiber-rubber composites is given below ... 

Proper reinforcement of rubber matrix using hllers can be achieved only if there exists adequate adhesion between the hller and the mbber. Rubber-mbber adhesion and rubber-hller adhesion both without and with adhesion promoters have been studied extensively [125-127]. Fiber-matrix adhesion in short fiber-rubber composites is always a field of extensive research. If the fibers are not bonded properly with the rubber matrix, fibers will shde past each other under tension deforming the matrix, thereby reducing the strength properties. In the case of short fiber-reinforced rubber composites, loads are not directly applied to the fibers, but are apphed to the matrix. To obtain a high-performance composite, the load must be effectively transferred to the fibers, which is possible only when the fiber-matrix interphase is sufficiently strong. In addition, the adhesion between the fiber and the matrix should be such that the failure occurs in the matrix rather than at the interphase [92]. 

Foldi, A.P., Design and applications of short fibre reinforced rubbers, in Short Fiber-Polymer Composites, De, S.K. and White, J.R. (Eds.), Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge, 1996, Chapter 9. 

Fluoroelastomers Novikova et al. [32] reported unproved physico-mechanical properties of fluoro mbbers by reinforcement with chopped polyamide fibers. Other fiber reinforcements are covered by Grinblat et al. [33]. Watson and Francis [34] described the use of aramid (Kevlar) as short fiber reinforcement for vulcanized fluoroelastomer along with polychloroprene mbber and a co-polyester TPE in terms of improvement in the wear properties of the composites. Rubber diaphragms, made up of fluorosilicone mbbers, can be reinforced using aramid fiber in order to impart better mechanical properties to the composite, though surface modification of the fiber is needed to improve the adhesion between fluorosUicone mbber and the fiber [35]. Bhattacharya et al. [36] studied the crack growth resistance of fluoroelastomer vulcanizates filled with Kevlar fiber. 

Chen, F. and Jones, F. R., Injection moulding of glass fibre reinforced phenolic composites 1. Study of the critical fibre length and the interfacial shear strengtli, Plast., Rubber Composites Proc. Appl, 23, 241 (1995). Termonia, Y., Structure-property relationships in short-fiber-reinforced composites, J. Polym. Set, Polym. Phys. Ed., 32, 969 (1994). 

Geethamma, V.G. Pothen, Laly A. Rhao, Bhaskar Neelakantan, N.R. Thomas, Sabu. Tensile stress relaxation of short-coir- fiber -reinforced natural rubber composites. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 94(1), 96-104 (2004). 

Bhaduii SK, Sen SK, Dasgupta PC (1983) Structural studies of an acidic polysaccharide isolated from the leaf fibre of pineapple (Ananas comosus MERR). Carbohydr Res 121 211-220 Bhattacharya TB, Biswas AK, Chatterjee J, Pramnick D (1986) Short pineapple leaf fibre reinforced rubber composites. Plast Rubb Process Appl 6 119-125 Bismarck A, Mishra S, Lampke T (2005) Plant fibers as reinforcement for green composites. In Mohanty AK, Misra M, Drzal LT (eds) Natural fibers, biopolymers and biocomposites. Taylor Francis, EL, Boca Raton... 

W.N. Wan Busu, H. Anuar, S.H. Ahmad, R. Rasid, and N.A. Jamal, The mechanical and physical properties of thermoplastic natural rubber hybrid composites reinforced with hibiscus cannabinus, L and short glass fiber. Polym. Plast. Technol. Eng. 49, 1315-1322 (2010). 

U. Wisittanawat, S. Thanawan, T. Amomsakchai, Remarkable improvement of failure strain of preferentially aligned short pineapple leaf fiber reinforced nitrile rubber composites with silica hybridization. Polymer Testing, ISSN 0142-9418 38 (September 2014) 91-99. http //dx.doi.0rg/IO.IOI6/j.poIymertesting.2Oi4.O7.OO6. 

Murty VM, De SK (1984) Short-fiber-reinforced styrene-butadiene rubber composites. J Appl Polym Sci 29 1355-1368... 

Geethamma VG, Kalaprasad G, Groeninckx G, Thomas S (2005) Dynamic mechanical behavior of short coir fiber reinforced natural rubber composites. Compos Part A Appl Sci Manuf 36 1499-1506... 

Geethamma, V.G., )oseph, R., and Thomas, S. (1995) Short coir fiber-reinforced natural rubber composites effects of fiber length, orientation, and alkali treatment. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 55, 583-594. 

O Connor, J.E. (1977) Short-fiber-reinforced elastomer composites. Rubber Chem. Technol., 50, 945-958. 

Varghese, S., Kuriakose, B., Thomas, S., and Koshy, A.T. (1994) Mechanica) and viscoeJastic properties of short filler reinforced natural rubber composites effects of interfacial adhesion, fiber loading, and orientation. J. Adhes. Sci. Technol., 8, 235-248. 

R., Unnikrishnan, G., and Thomas, S. (2004) Investigation on interfacial adhesion of short sisal/coir hybrid fiber reinforced natural rubber composites by restricted equilibrium swelling technique. Compos. Interfaces, 11, 489-513. 

Ismail, H., Rosnah, N., and Rozman, H.D. (1997) Curing characteristics and mechanical properties of short oil palm fiber reinforced rubber composites. Polymer, 38, 4059-4064. 

Extensive reviews on short fibers-reinforced elastomers have been published by Goettler and Shen, ° and more recently by Rajeev. Table 7.11 is a list of selected published works on natural fiber-filled rubber composites, sorted by rubber type. Only vulcanizable rubbers were considered in preparing the table thermoplastic rubber and rubber-plastics blends were omitted. As can be seen most grades of conventional elastomers have been considered with quite a large variety of natural fibers. Natural Rubber, SBR, and EPDM compounds have received much attention, as expected with respect to their industrial importance. A bonding system is us in most cases, with resin types (i.e. resorcinol-formaldehyde, resorcinol-hexamethylenetetramine, sil-ica-resorcinol-hexamethylenetetramine) the most frequent ones. 

Short fiber reinforced rubber composites have found well established usages in hose, belt, tires and other automotives applications, generally because either they offer specific properties that cannot be obtained with more conventional fillers only (e.g., carbon black or silica) or they are a cheaper alternative at equivalent properties. It is obviously the capability of short fibers to be properly oriented during the (adapted) fabrication process and therefore to achieve well-controlled anisotropic mechanical properties, that is the most... 

D.K. Setua, B. Dutta. Short silk fiber-reinforced polychloroprene rubber composites. /. Appl. Polym. Sci., 29,3097-3114,1984. 

V.M. Murty and S.K. De. Short jute fiber reinforced rubber composites. Rubb. Chem. Technol., 55,287-308,1982. 

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