Thermal degradation kinetics and morphology of natural rubber/silica nanocomposites.

A novel natural rubber/silica (NR/SiO2) nanocomposite with a SiO2 loading of 4 wt% is developed by incorporating latex compounding with self-assembly techniques. The SiO2 nanoparticles are homogenously distributed throughout the NR matrix as spherical nano-clusters with an average size of 75 nm. In comparison with the host NR, the thermal resistance of the nanocomposite is significantly improved. The degradation temperatures (T), reaction activation energy (E), and reaction order (n) of the nanocomposite are markedly higher than those of the pure NR, due to significant retardant effect of the SiO2 nanoparticles.