3. Results
Resistivity studies are important for insulating materials, since the
most desirable characteristic of an insulator is its ability to resist the
leakage of electric current. Fig. 1 shows the variation of volume
resistivity (ρv) of neat polymers and the binary blends as a function of
chitosan concentration. Natural rubber is good insulator with volume
resistivity in the order of 109 Ω cm, while the volume resistivity of
chitosan is in the order of 102 Ω cm. As the concentration of chitosan
increases the ρv value decreases. This decrease in ρv is due to the
introduction of low resistivity chitosan. The curve shows a sharp
change after 50% CSThe effect of dynamic vulcanization on ρv values of NR/CS blends is
given in Table 1. The effect of vulcanization and incorporation of MA
on the resistivity of the blends were studied for NR85CS15 and
NR65CS35 blends. For these blends the resistivity increased by dynamic
vulcanization using DCP. The NR85CS15 blend vulcanized with DCP
shows highest resistivity value. The effect of incorporation of DCP and
MA on the resistivity values of the NR85CS15 blend sample is shown in
Fig. 5.