High volatile fatty acid natural rubber latex foam (H-VFA NRLF) was prepared via the Dunlop process using sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3 as the blowing agent. The influence of different foaming temperatures (140 ℃, 150 ℃, 160 ℃, 170 ℃, and 180 ℃) on relative foam density, average cell size, cell size distribution frequency and compression stress-strain of H-VFA NRLF were studied. The average cell sizes were related to the relative foam density of H-VFA NRLF. As the temperature increased, the relative foam density increased, and eventually the average cell size decreased due to high amount of gas generated by blowing agents simultaneously. Meanwhile, smaller cell sizes were distributed as the temperature increased. It was found that the optimum temperature for H-VFA NRLF was 150 ℃ due to the lowest relative foam density and significantly larger uniform cell size were produced. Thus, the lowest compression stress up to 60% of strain was found at 150 ℃ and increased with increasing temperature. The mechanical properties were correlated with the morphology and physical properties of the H-VFA NRLF, respectively.
