Recycling of Bagasse as an Agricultural Waste and its Effect as Filler on Some Mechanical and Physical Properties of SBR Composites

In the present study, a series of mixes based on different concentrations of carbon black (CB) as a reinforcing filler and sugarcane bagasse as supplementary filler, were investigated to examine their effects on the mechanical properties of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) composites. To this end, the first group of mixes deals with the effect of different concentrations of CB ranging from 0 to 80 phr at fixed bagasse concentration of 25 phr. The second group of mixes involves the addition of bagasse with concentrations varying from 10 to 50 phr at 10 intervals with fixed CB concentration of 40 phr. The sizes of the employed ground bagasse powder (GBP) in all prepared formulations ranged from 20 to 180 mu m. In addition, 2.5 phr of maleic anhydride (MA) was added to enhance the interfacial adhesion between SBR and agricultural waste fillers (i.e. bagasse). Tensile strength, elongation at break, modulus at 100% elongation, resilience, hardness (Shore A), abrasion and degree of swelling of the rubber vulcanizates were studied. The prepared samples were also analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to show the distribution of fiber and the occurrence of fiber-matrix adhesion. The optimum concentration of bagasse to be used simultaneously with CB in SBR composites was found to be 30 phr. Overall, it was found from the obtained results that the addition of GBP up to 50 phr is feasible without impairing the mechanical properties of SBR vulcanizates.