Natural rubber (NR) tapped from three clones of the rubber tree [Heveabrasiliensis (Willd. ex Adr. de Juss. Muell.-Arg.)] over a seven month period was obtained by coagulation of lattices with 10% acid acetic and dried at 65 °C. TG-DTG curves were used to monitor thermal properties of NR. The TG-DTG results indicated very small differences among the clones and tappings, except in the value of Tf-T0, which indicated that the IAC 301 clone suffered the fastest thermal degradation, during decomposition of the dried, raw NR. There was no significant difference in Tg values among clones and tappings.
Raw natural rubber; new clones; monitoring; thermal properties
