RMUTT creates flooring rubber from rubber tree sawdust

ดร.วารุณี อริยวิริยะนันท์   From the contest of work of lady researcher held in Seoul, Korea under the name of Korea International Women’s Invention Exposition 2010 (KIWIE 2010), there are many women who work as researchers from many countries including Thailand, sending their works to compete. As the result, lady researchers from Thailand have gained many awards and one of them is the invention made from nature. It is not only the award to express the reputation but it also tells the story about the way to utilize the natural resource efficiently. Rubber which is an economical plant is mentioned.

This work is flooring rubber made from natural composite which is belonging to Dr. Warunee Ariyawiriyanan and Ms. Thanyanan Woraseatapong, researchers from Faculty of Engineering, (RMUTT).

The owners of this work revealed that “this work is aiming to produce alternative products which use less cost of production comparing to ceramic which is sold at expensive price. Moreover, Thailand is the country to grow rubbers and export them and their products relevant to other countries as the top export of the world as well.

It is acknowledged that Thailand also has sufficient inputs which it can also be another alternative to promote and develop potentially the ability to use economic plants and natural resource in order to create highest value. This flooring rubber is made by composite method and uses the sawdust from rubber tree from production of the furniture and finally mixes with the rubbers. From this experimentation, it is found that the appropriate formula to mix this compound component is at its ratio about 50% of filling rubber tree sawdust with the size of the flooring rubber at 25x25x25 cm2. This will help it look beautiful and combine each other. Moreover, it can also be well applied with the light and it has high resistance to use outdoor.

Furthermore, Tensile Strength of flooring rubber equals at 4014 MPa and 5.45 MPs after heating the temperature at 100 Degree Celsius lasting 22 hours. Its strength is at 91.8 shor A. Its scrub resistance with 100 rounds is at 0.431. The above qualifications has the force according to compare to the pure natural rubber and percentage of water absorb is at 4.5%.

The owners of work also added about being successful, this has to be considering many factors such as resistance to the weather condition, weight, slithering, and need of changing its place and it is easy to manage through easy to clean. Besides that, it also has long duration of usage.  According to the tropical climate like Thailand, the temperature outsides the building will be very high, therefore, it is needed the equipment with having no . In addition, it is comfortable when walking on. This has the qualification of to not absorb water, friendly to the environment and low cost of production comparing to ceramic products sold in the markets. If there is any interested, please call for more information at 08-3923-9790.

Translated by Mr. Suraporn Onputtha