Development of natural rubber foam by in-house Talalay method

Abstract

Abstract The benefits of natural rubber foams (NRFs), include its buoyancy, sound absorption, supportability, and low weight. Generally, there are two main techniques to produce the NRFs: Dunlop method and Talalay method. The Dunlop technique is a cheap and conventional method, while the Talalay technique is a complicated method (cool down, vacuum and heating process). The objective of this research is to study the difference properties of NRFs between Dunlop and Talalay methods. Both techniques proposed the NRFs with similar foam density values. The mechanical properties of the NRF from in-house Talalay method were lower than those obtained by NRF from Dunlop method, may due to the in-house Talalay method generating the large bubble from the vacuum system. However, the FTIR spectrum of NRFs obtained from both methods showed the same functional groups.