Effect of ENR50/STR5L Blends on Properties of Foodstuff Conveyor Belts Compound

Natural rubber blending with nitrile rubber is the important raw material employed for the foodstuff conveyor belts formulation. This research involves the replacement of nitrile rubber with epoxidised natural rubber (ENR) aiming for food safety precaution and cost saving on the materials. This work included the investigation on the ratio of ENR with 50% epoxidation (ENR50) and natural rubber (Standard Thai Rubber 5L,STR5L). The ratios of ENR50:STR5L were 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100. The effect of fillers, i.e. silica (SiO2) and magnesium carbonate (MgCO3) on the properties of rubber blends was also investigated. The vulcanizing system was semi-efficient vulcanization (Semi-EV). The study was further focused on the morphological characterization and mechanical properties. It was found that increasing the proportion of ENR50 and STR5L at 50% produced better mechanical property, however, the elongation at break increased once the ENR50 was down at 25%. Thus, this enhanced the property of the foodstuff conveyor belts compound.