Pysico-chemical and mechanical characterization of latex from Artocarpus heterophyllus lam. (jackfruit) and four related artocarpus spp.

• Main Author: Nepacina, Maria Rejane J.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: Latex
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5535
• Institution: De La Salle University

The physico-chemical and mechanical properties of latex extracted from five species of Artocarpus J.R.Forster & G.Forster, namely: A. altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg, A. blancoi Merr., A. camansi Blanco, A. heterophyllus Lam., and A. ovatus Blanco as potential natural adhesives were characterized. Surface morphological characterized showed that all five Artocarpus spp. have no specific forms, but otherwise flexible and viscoelastic. Contact angle measurements showed that all samples of Artocarpus spp. were hydrophilic with low contact angle values (p-value = 0.00, n=100, 0.05 a). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis matched all Artocarpus latex samples to that of Polyvinyl acetate while latex samples having the highest resin content belonged to A. ovatus with no significant difference with A. heterephyllus and A. camansi (p value= 0.00, n = 15, 0.05 a). Cluster analysis revealed that out of the eight variables tested A. heterephyllus was the outgroup being attributed to the gum-like property of its latex. It was confirmed that out of the three stress strain analyses A. camansi had the highest values for tensile strength, A. ovatus had the highest values for Youngs modulus of elasticity while the highest % elongation values belonged to A. heterophyllus. Finally, adhesive shear strengths with maximum force values were highest in A. ovatus. All the above tests and analyses suggested that latex of all five Artocarpus spp. were similar in characteristics to polymer adhesive. Among which A. camansi and A. ovatus exhibited high results on adhesive strength tests.