Natural Rubber: Properties, Behavior & Applications

Natural Rubber (NR) is a renewable polymer endowed with remarkable properties including its high elasticity and high film forming capacity, properties that enable its use in a wide range of applications. In this book, Chapter One reviews properties, behavior and uses of NR. Chapter Two discusses NR properties and conventional applications, as well the development of new thermo-reversible cross linked NR. Chapter Three evaluates samples of natural rubber latex using a coaxial cylinder rheometer and, as from the data obtained, propose a model to determine the flow energy at different total solids contents. Chapter Four provides a review of the past, present and future perspectives of the vulcanization of natural rubber. Chapter Five investigates the effect of increasing MMT loading levels on the physico-mechanical properties of EVA/ devulcanized rubber (DVC rubber) blends. Chapter Six discusses in detail the parameters and conditions that could influence the degradation reaction of NR latex in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and UV light. Chapter Seven focuses specifically on the use of metal and metal oxide particles in NR, epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and their respective blends reported between 2010 to 2015. See more