In search of a new class of antioxidants for rubber products, plant based antioxidants have emerged as a suitable alternative to traditional antioxidants. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the efficiency of jojoba seed meal (JSM) as a natural antioxidant in rubber compounds. Hence, JSM was ground and sieved into a very fine powder (JSMP) where it was applied here in silica-filled acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) composite at different loadings. Its effect on the curing, swelling, physico-mechanical, aging and dielectric properties of the resulting composites was investigated. It was found that the incorporation of JSMP into silica-NBR composites enhanced the curing, mechanical, and swelling properties compared to those of the composite prepared with the commercial antioxidant 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,2-dihydroquinoline (TMQ) and the optimum concentration of JSMP was 4 phr. This result was proved by SEM which showed that using up to 4 phr of JSMP enhanced the dispersion of silica within the NBR matrix. Aging process results showed that the composites with JSMP exhibited a high resistance to the aging process compared to that with TMQ. Furthermore, the dielectric results revealed that the presence of JSMP caused an increase in the permittivity, dielectric loss, and conductivity of the resulting composites. The conductivity value reached to 8 x 10(-7) S/cm which recommends the use of such composites for electrostatic dissipation applications.
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