Compression Test Properties
Figure 3 represents the effect of RHP filler loading on the stress-strain behavior of
the RHP-incorporated NRLF. The stress-strain curves show that a higher amount of force
was required to compress the RHP-incorporated NRLF with higher RHP loading. Figure
3 shows a clear trend of increasing stress with increasing RHP loading at 10, 20, 30, 40,
and 50% strain. At 50% compression, the NRLF with 10 phr RHP loading showed the
highest value of stress, while the control NRLF showed the lowest stress value. Addition
of reinforcing RHP filler improves the interfacial RHP and NRL compound. RHP, being
a harder material, indirectly increased the hardness of NRLF upon its addition. This
effect can be attributed to the enhanced RHP-matrix interaction, which was further
supported by the results of morphological studies (Ramasamy et al. 2012). Hence, it is
clearly shown that RHP filler loading contributes to an increase in hardness but a
reduction in the elasticity of RHP-incorporated NRLF.