Effect of ZnFe2O4 addition on the properties of epoxidised natural rubber (ENR-25) Composite

Electroceramic with high magnetic properties is widely used in electronic application such as an inductor, transducer, etc. Among the electroceramic, ferrite-based compound offers a wide range of spectrum with good magnetic properties and become desirable in many device applications. However, the brittle nature of ceramics has limited their use in a certain application such as in tunable and bendable device. Solution to the shortfall, flexible materials like rubber can be used to mix with the magnetic ceramic. As a result, high magnetic flexible composite materials will be produced. In this present study, the magnetic ceramic of ZnFe2O4 was synthesised using solid-state reaction technique and blended with epoxidised natural rubber (ENR25) at different loading (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 phr). The composites produced were characterised their phases, mechanical and dielectric properties using x-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared, tensile analysis and lcr-meter. From the results, the phase of ZnFe2O4 was successfully produced as confirmed by XRD analysis. The tensile strength of different content of ZnFe2O4 shows the increase of tensile stress for all samples from 8.49 to 14.09 MPa except 80 phr that have a higher value than 120 phr which is 14.09 and 12.75 MPa and this is believed due to the efficiency of the network in rubber composites that orient in the direction of stretching is already saturated at that concentration. Based on the results obtained from FTIR analysis, the element that presented in the composite are aliphatic hydrocarbons which is hexane and also can be assigned as hydrosilane. From thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry results, the thermal behavior of the glass transition temperature shift to the left with the increasing of the ZnFe2O4 filler due to the incorporation of ZnFe2O4 filler in rubber do improved the thermal resistance. Apart from that, the composites possessed an increasing of dielectric constant from 4.94 to 5.62 at 1.15 MHz with the increasing of ZnFe2O4 concentration and for the dielectric loss, the composites possesed the decreasing of dielectric loss start from 0.0827 MHz to 0.0586 MHz. The conclusion is the 80 phr of ZnFe2O4 loading is a great content that exhibits excellent properties to balance the mechanical and electrical properties which is 14.09 MPa in its tensile strength and 5.52 at 1.15 MHz for the dielectric constant. Overall, the composite achieve optimum condition with excellent properties at 80 phr of ZnFe2O4.