Development and Characterization of Fly Ash Reinforced Natural Rubber Composite

ABSTRACT Fly ash is generated in large quantities by the combustion of pulverized coal in thermal power plants. The production of fly ash is increasing every year causing serious environmental pollution. Therefore, it becomes essential to utilize fly ash for various industrial applications. In this study, fly ash was used as filler for making fly ash-natural rubber composite by mixing and molding process. Properties of the composites viz. hardness, tensile strength, abrasion resistance, skid resistance, compression set, density and water absorption were determined. It was found that with increase in fly ash loading, hardness, density, skid resistance and compression set increased whereas tensile strength and abrasion resistance decreased. The effect of particle size of fly ash on composite was also studied. Composites having fly ash of smaller particle size had higher tensile strength and lower tendency to compression set. K EYWORDS : Fly ash, Natural rubber, Composite, Mechanical properties.