Effect of Marble Tile Waste Powder (MTWP) Filler on Cure and Mechanical Behaviour of Natural Nubber (NR) Compound

As part of the increasing effort to reutilize of residue generated from industrial activities, an attempt hasbeen made to utilize marble tile waste as a potential filler in natural rubber (NR) composite when lowstrength applications are required. In the experimental part, 10 μm size of marble tile waste powder(MTWP), with five different loadings up to 40 parts per hundred of rubber (phr) were used in NRcomposites to study the effect of MTWP loading on the cure characteristics and mechanical properties.The addition of MTWP as filler resulted in shorter cure time and scorch time which is preferable inrubber processing. It also enhanced the properties of tensile modulus and hardness while tensilestrength, elongation at break and swelling ratio decreased with increasing MTWP loading. This studythus shows that MTWP can be used as economical alternative filler in NR compound and has potential asa partial replacement of reinforcing filler like carbon black in various rubber products. Keywords: natural rubber, filler, composite, marble tile waste