Reinforced natural rubber nanocomposites: Next generation advanced material

Abstract

Undoubtedly, the advanced green composites have replaced the use of many conventional mineral based or naturally occurring single materials in wide spread industrial applications including aerospace, automotive, locomotive, chemical and biomedical industries. Specially, the reinforced natural rubber nanocomposites have drawn the attention of the research as well as industrial worlds greatly because of their superior thermal and mechanical properties without major compromise of transperancy/clarity. This chapter presents the preparation of rubber nanocomposites, characterization techniques, and the properties of the developed nanocomposites such as mechanical and thermal characteristics along with the recent applications of these nanocomposites. The rubber nanocomposite (RNC) have found their niche commercially in the tyre and sports industries providing reduced weight and energy dissipation, and enhanced air retention to the applied products.