Short fiber-rubber composites application

The reinforcement of rubbers using nylon, rayon, vinyl, and polyester fibers was reported by various authors [10,58,73-75]. Because of the design flexibility and suitable end-use applications, high-performance fibers such as glass, carbon, and aramid also find extensive applications in short fiber-reinforced mbbers. A brief description of some of the major high-performance fibers commonly used in short fiber-rubber composites is given below ... 

Foldi, A.P., Design and applications of short fibre reinforced rubbers, in Short Fiber-Polymer Composites, De, S.K. and White, J.R. (Eds.), Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge, 1996, Chapter 9. 

There is a wide variety of materials which are foreign to the body and which are used in contact with body fluids. These materials are called biomaterials. They include polymers (fibers, rubbers, molded plastics, emulsions, coatings, fluids, etc.), metals, ceramics, carbons, reconstituted or specially treated natural tissues, and composites made from various combinations of such materials (Table 1). Some are needed only for short-term applications while others are, hopefully, useful for the lifetime of the individual. Apphcations include devices or implants for diagnosis or therapy. 

Short fiber reinforced rubber composites have found well established usages in hose, belt, tires and other automotives applications, generally because either they offer specific properties that cannot be obtained with more conventional fillers only (e.g., carbon black or silica) or they are a cheaper alternative at equivalent properties. It is obviously the capability of short fibers to be properly oriented during the (adapted) fabrication process and therefore to achieve well-controlled anisotropic mechanical properties, that is the most... 

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