Blends of Natural Rubber with Thermoplastics

Raw natural rubber shows high green strength by virtue of strain-induced crystallization. Though natural rubber in the raw form is used in a few applications such as adhesives, binders, and sole crepe, it is not truly thermoplastic, primarily due to its high molecular weight [29]. 

Mixing of natural rubber with polyolefin is one of the methods used to prepare thermoplastic natural rubber (TPNR). TPNR behaves like vulcanized rubbers at ambient conditions, but at elevated temperatures they melt and flow like a thermoplastic material. Thus TPNR could be processed using conventional thermoplastic processing machinery without requiring vulcanization, and these materials could be reprocessed. Thus there is low level of wastage, as scrap too can be recycled. 

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The blending of natural rubber with thermoplastics, and other rubbers have been reported in the literature. Thus, blends of NR with (i) ultra-low density polyethylene, (ii) styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), (iii) epoxidized natural rubber, (iv) acrylonitrile butadiene rubber," (v) chloroprene rubber" and (vi) dichlorocarbene modified styrene-butadiene rubber (DCSBR)" have been prepared, characterized and reported in the literature. 

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