Preparação e caracterização de blendas elastoméricas de Látex e Hidroxipropilmetilcelulose

Abstract

In the present work, elastomeric polymer blends were produced from the mixture of natural rubber (BN) of latex and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and characterized in terms of their transformed and morphological physical properties. The blends were prepared via “Casting” by dissolving the polymers in water, in the proportions of HPMC/BN 25%/75%; 37,5%/62,5%; 50%/50%; 62,5%/37,5%; 75%/25%; 87,5%/12,5% (m/m). The blends were characterized by FTIR, SEM, TGA and water vapor permeability (Pw). FTIR analysis showed changes in the bands and the intensity of the peaks in the spectra in accordance with variations of proportions of the polymers in the blends, indicating changes in chemical composition thereof. The SEM images in general showed homogeneous structures, mainly for HPMC levels below 50%, indicating miscibility and compatibility of HPMC/BN. The results observed from the TGA curves show that the addition of natural rubber to the HPMC leads to a variation in the degradation temperature, where three thermal events were evidenced, which may indicate a better miscibility between the macromolecules. The Pw analysis showed that in the curve of the experimental results there is a tendency to approach the miscibility model with the increase of the proportion of HPMC in the blends. Through the results obtained, it can be concluded that evidence of good interaction between polymers was found in mixtures containing less than 50% HPMC, showing a new combination of materials from renewable sources with potential for new applications.