Material Properties and Statistical Analysis of Natural Rubber-Based Adhesives

Material properties of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR 50)-based adhesive were determined using DSC, TGA and FTIR analysis which was prepared using gum rosin and toluene as tackifier and solvent respectively. Quadratic regression was fitted to model the effect of peel strength and shear strength of the adhesives. Result shows that peel and shear strength increases up to an optimum molecular weight of 4.2 × 10⁴ g/mol of ENR 50. Peel strength and shear strength also increases with increase in rate of testing, an observation which is associated to the viscoelastic response of the adhesive. Statistical analysis was carried out to further investigate the effect of molecular weight and testing rate on peel and shear strength.