Acetoacetoxy functionalized natural rubber latex capable of forming cross-linkable film under ambient conditions

This work demonstrates that natural rubber (NR) latex particles containing acetoacetoxy (AcAc) groups are able to undergo cross-linking upon film formation at ambient temperature by reaction with glutaraldehyde (GTA). Natural rubber latex grafted with poly(acetoacetoxyethyl methacrylate) (NR-g-PAAEM) was synthesized by seeded emulsion polymerization, using benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as an initiator in free radical polymerization. The degree of grafting of PAAEM in the graft copolymers was evaluated by ¹H NMR technique. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used for investigation the particle morphology of the grafted NR latex. Since the AcAc groups are intentionally attached to the NR particles providing sites of cross-linking at ambient temperature, the cross-linking ability of these sites by reaction with GTA was then investigated. The results revealed that the latex film of NR-g-PAAEM with the addition of GTA had a much higher tensile strength in comparison with the film without GTA. The surface morphology of the NR-g-PAAEM latex film formed in the absence and presence of the GTA cross-linker was also investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM). By GTA addition into the NR-g-PAAEM latex before film formation, an increase in the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of the surface of the latex film was observed. Moreover, it was also observed that the NR-g-PAAEM films with the addition of GTA had higher activation energy for thermal degradation than that without the cross-linker. This confirms that the cross-linking reaction took place in the NR-g-PAAEM latex film as a result of its reaction with the GTA.