%0 Journal Article %T Comparative properties of natural rubber vulcanisates filled with defatted rice bran, clay and calcium carbonate %A Darinya Moonchai %J Maejo International Journal of Science and Technology %D 2012 %I Maejo University %X The effects of defatted rice bran (DRB) as a filler for natural rubbervulcanisate on its cure characteristics, mechanical properties and morphology wereinvestigated. The properties of the DRB-filled vulcanisate were also compared with clayfilledand CaCO3-filled vulcanisates. At similar loading level (50 parts per hundred ofrubber), DRB-filled vulcanisate gave the shortest cure time. Clay-filled vulcanisateshowed highest tensile and tear strength followed by DRB-filled vulcanisate. However,CaCO3-filled vulcanisate gave highest rebound resilience while DRB-filled vulcanisateexhibited highest modulus, hardness and abrasion resistance. Scanning electronmicrographs revealed that the morphology of clay-filled vulcanisate was morehomogenous than that of DRB-filled and CaCO3-filled vulcanisates. According to theseobservations, DRB can potentially be used as a cheap and more environment-friendlynatural filler when an improvement in mechanical properties was not so critical. %K natural rubber %K vulcanisate %K rubber filler %K defatted rice bran %U http://www.mijst.mju.ac.th/vol6/249-258.pdf