الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Improvements in the properties of rubber products have been obtained in the present work by the addition of fillers, enabling polymeric products suited to highly demanding applications. Agro-industrial residues are highly abundant solid wastes that represent a promising source of alternative fillers. Reinforcing fillers obtained from agroindustrial residues, namely, bagasse and rice straw, were used for the manufacture of composites in SBR vulcanizates. Crystalline cellulose has been derived from bagasse and rice straw by removing the amorphous regions by alkaline treatment. Rubber formulations were prepared by incorporating different concentrations from carbon black N330 (HAF), fumed silica and multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) in SBR vulcanizates. The prepared samples were tested and evaluated for mechanical and physical properties, which reveals the importance of such reinforcing fillers used. A series of (bagasse–SBR) composites, were obtained by mixing SBR with different proportions (10 – 50 phr) of bagasse powder using maleic anhydride as a coupling agent. Overall, it was evident from the recorded results that the addition of GBP causes a gradual increase for both tensile strength and elongation at break up to 30 phr and then decreases with further increase in bagasse concentration. Also, the modulus and hardness values were found to increase with increasing bagasse concentration, whereas, the resilience was found to decrease steadily. The results also show an improvement in the abrasion resistance behaviour. The scanning electron microscopy investigations confirmed the obtained mechanical properties. The equilibrium swelling in toluene decreases with increasing bagasse concentration in SBR vulcanizates. The thermal stability of the samples prepared shows a slight improvement. The incorporation of chemically treated rice straw (TRS) used as a reinforcing filler showed an improvement in the mechanical and thermal properties of SBR vulcanizates. The SBR vulcanizates showed an improvement in properties till reaching an optimum fiber loading of 20phr after which the properties suffer a gradual decrease.