Some properties of hemp fibre and hemp fibre filled natural rubber composites

Hemp fibre filled rubber were prepared using industrial hemp fibre mats with rubber latex. three types of fibres,namely,untreated,alkaline treated and digested fibres were used in the present study. prior to the preparation of the fibre filled rubber,thermal and surface morphological analyses indicated certain changes in the treatedfibres in contrast to untreated fibres. fibres treated with a concentrated alkaline solution at high temperature demonstrated a higher level of surface roughness and resistance to thermal degradation than untreatedfibres. the higher level of surface roughness observed in the treated fibres was also observed in the resulting properties of the fibre filled rubber. the fibre filled rubber exhibited poorer strength than the rubber control which can be attributed to inappropriate adherence between the rubber andfibres.