Natural rubber environmentally degradable

Newly planted rubber trees take 5 to 7 years before they can be tapped and reach their peak production in 10 to 20 years. Of the major global challenges, the environment occupies a dominant place for rubber trees and natural rubber, even on smallholdings where Hevea is usually intercropped with other tree crops or food crops, thereby constituting agro-forests, which nowadays have important secondary functions (maintaining biodiversity, environmental conservation, rehabilitation of degraded zones, etc.) ... 

Degradation is likely responsible for several damages to any rubber blend and is related to environmental impacts. Analysis of the life cycle and control of different degradation processes that blends, can be submitted to allows understanding of how many different phenomena occur. This understanding is essential to develop new blends where the properties of two or more polymers can be combined. This work covers some developments in life-cycle assessment, ageing and degradation behaviour of natural rubber-based blends and IPNs. 

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