Natural Rubber Based Research and Developments in Indian Rubber Industry

Abstract

Being the 4th largest producer and 2nd largest. consumer of natural rubber in the world the Indian Rubber Industry has been growing in along with the strength and importance, as a part of India's burgeoning role in the global econ- omy. There are about 4600 registered units comprising of 30 large scale, 300 medium scale and around 4400 small scale and tiny units which form part of the colossus of the natural rubber industry in India. This shows the increased demand and prodn. of rubber and rubber based products in India. The wide range of rubber products manufd. by the Indian rubber industry comprises of auto tyres, tubes, automobile parts, footwears, belting, hoses, cycle tyres and tubes, cables and wires, camelback, battery boxes, latex products, pharmaceutical goods, besides molded and extruded goods for mass consumption. The important areas which the industry caters to include all the three wings of defense, civil, aviation, aeronautics, railways, agriculture, transport as also textile engineering industries, pharmaceriticals, mines, steel plants, ports, family planning programs, hospitals, sports, practically to every conceivable field. The prodn. of these wide range of products points to the need of an effective market intelligence mechanism for the industry as well for the producers to cope up with the need of international and domestic market. In Indian Rubber Industry, the most important forms in which natural rubbers processed and marketed are Sheets, Crepes, Block Rubber and Preserved Latex Concs. and Sheet Rubbers are designated as RSS 1, RSS 2, RSS 3, RSS 4, RSS 5 and are marketed. Block Rubber is designated in the grades of ISNR. Although the prodn. is around 899,400 tonnes per annum the demand-supply gap is still widening on a monthly basis necessitating more imports. The major Indian Rubber Consumption is in the automotive tyre sector (50% consumption of all kinds of rubbers). The government promotes the development of the rubber industry in India, through research, services to growers and workers, marmfacturing facilities, and other tech. aids. Govt. of India provides funds to R&D centers to support Rubber Industries & end users to improve the quality of rubber products. The research projects include coir project for utilization of Coconut Coir / Fiber and its byproducts in various rubber, Use of Electron Beam Radiations in Rubber Products esp. Tyres, Belts etc, Silica modification to reduce PH-A , Reinforcing white nano fillers for envi- ronment friendly rubber. The research fields in rubber industIy also aims in developing high performance nanocomp- sites for various applications like green tyres, inner lining of the tyres with less permeability etc. The research area in his field also includes the development of highly impermeable rubber nanocomposite for inner lining of tryes, by using natural rubber based blends like NR/SBR (styrene butadiene rubber), NR/CIIR (chlorobutyl rubber) etc for various applications and incorporating nanofillers into it for property enhancement. Latex stage compounding of micro and nano fillers and filler dispersion in rubber blends are some of the projects being done in collaboration between universities and rubber industries. [on SciFinder(R)]