Percentage of elongation at break (Fig. 4) increases with the
increase in CTS content up to 2.5 phr. Beyond 2.5 phr of CTS loading
the formation of homogenous filler is tougher and therefore the
dispersion of CTS filler becomes less homogenous which leads to
poor interaction between matrix and filler. Besides that the CTS
reduces the molecular mobility of polymer chains also results in a
lower percentage of elongation at break and increase in modulus
[17].
The reduction in elongation at break is in concurrent with
increasing stiffness of the biocomposites. The overall modulus
(Fig. 5) increases with increase in CTS content. As the modulus
indicates the stiffness of a material, the results show that the chitosan
imparts a greater stiffening effect to the rubber. This is a
common phenomenon in rubber whereby the stiffness of the
rubber is reduced when any fillers introduces.