Dody Andi Winarto, a doctoral student in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at FTUI, presented his research titled “Latest Modification of Natural Rubber through Two-Phase Hydrogenation for Candidate Buoy Float Material for Tsunami Buoy.” This research was elaborated in his dissertation presented at the open doctoral promotion session at FTUI on Tuesday (23/07) in Auditorium K.301 FTUI.
Indonesia is one of the countries that frequently experiences tsunamis, with a total of 266 recorded tsunamis. The memories of the two major tsunamis, the 2004 Aceh tsunami and the 2018 Palu tsunami, are still fresh. To minimize the impact of tsunamis, various research and efforts have been undertaken, especially after the Aceh tsunami. Indonesia has developed a tsunami early warning system featuring tsunami buoys.
On the other hand, Indonesia is the largest producer of natural rubber in the world. However, about 75% of Indonesia’s natural rubber production is exported as raw materials in the form of technically specified rubber (TSR) and ribbed smoked sheets (RSS). It is known that most current buoy materials use polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), EPDM rubber, and EVA rubber. Therefore, the tsunami early warning system development team aims to utilize natural rubber as the raw material for tsunami buoy floats as part of the downstream processing of natural rubber.
“However, natural rubber has a weakness: it has poor thermal resistance and is easily oxidized due to its high double bond content. To overcome this weakness, modifications to natural rubber are necessary. In this research, I developed the latest modification of natural rubber by exploring a two-phase hydrogenation approach using solid natural rubber dissolved in an organic solvent and a hydrogen source (hydrazine hydrate and hydrogen peroxide) mixed with water,” explained Dody.
Dody stated that the processing of natural rubber can be done by leveraging the advantages of hydrogenated natural rubber material, which can produce better mechanical properties compared to using non-hydrogenated natural rubber. “Meanwhile, the thermal properties of hydrogenated natural rubber remain comparable to the original material, with enhanced heat and oxidation resistance. Thus, this two-phase method offers potential for improving the heat and oxidation resistance properties of natural rubber material for tsunami buoy float applications, and potentially as a candidate raw material for buoy floats replacing Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA) and polyurethane (PU) materials,” he added.
FTUI Dean Prof. Dr. Ir. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU, commented, “I highly appreciate the research conducted by Dody Andi Winarto. This research represents a promising breakthrough in developing more durable and environmentally friendly materials for critical applications like tsunami buoys. This research not only opens up new opportunities in the downstream processing of Indonesian natural rubber products but also makes a significant contribution to the development of disaster mitigation technology. We hope this research continues to grow and provide real benefits to the broader community.”
Dody Andi Winarto successfully defended his dissertation with a grade of Very Satisfactory, earning a GPA of 4.00. He is the 72nd doctoral graduate from the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and the 565th doctoral graduate from FTUI. The promotion session was led by Prof. Ir. Yulianto S. Nugroho, M.Sc., Ph.D., with Prof. Dr. Ir. Mochamad Chalid, S.Si., M.Sc.Eng., as the promoter and Dr. Chandra Liza as the co-promoter. The examiners included Prof. Dr. Ir. Anne Zulfia Syahrial, M.Sc., Dr. rer.nat. Agustino Zulys, Drs. Nofrijon Sofyan, M.Si, Ph.D., Dr. Mohammad Irfan Fathurrohman, and Adam Febriyanto Nugraha, S.T., Ph.D.
***
Public Communication Office
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia
