Elastomers future trends

M. Perez-Gabero, E. Rjande and M.A. Lopez-Manchado in Proceedings of the lOM Conference - Elastomers for Engineering Future Trends, London, UK, 2006, p.30. 

Forecasting the future trend of any commodity in terms of availability, production, and price is somewhat hazardous, and for natural rubber is probably more hazardous than most. Some conditions exist, however, that would indicate natural rubber will be around for some time at reasonable prices. Although tire production in the United States may be on a plateau, the increasing industrialization of the Third World countries keeps world demand for elastomers rising and at a faster rate than natural production. Such countries, at least in the short term, increase production of trucks rather than passenger automobiles and truck tires require more natural rubber than do passenger tires. 

Legge, N. R., G. Holden and H. Schroeder (eds.), Thermoplastic Elastomers, A Comprehensive Review , Oxford University Press, New York, 1988. Structure, properties and future trends are emphasized in the chapters each written by researchers who have contributed significantly to the science. 

This book covers the chemical aspects, physical structure and properties, application opportunities, life cycle assessment, recycling possibilities, and the future trends of the three classes of thermoplastic elastomers. 

The green technology trend is shaping the future of the chemicals used in the elastomer industry and this is easily realized from the following ... 

These are shown in Table 13.12. All these areas are currently growing at the extent of 2-3% per annum and this trend is expected to continue especially relevant is the growing use of electrically powered vehicles for which PU is often superior as a tyre material at the low speeds and relatively high loads involved. Future advances of PU elastomers in this field will depend upon the development of tyres with improved dynamic performance through lower hysteresis and better traction. 

Polycondensation Reactions in Thermoplastic Elastomer Chemistry State of the Art, Trends, and Future Developments... 

The first part of this chapter is a critical review of the various techniques of polycondensation used in the preparation of block copolymers [2]. It is followed by an analysis of the research trends and future, and the developments of polycondensation reactions leading to the obtaining of thermoplastic elastomers. 

---