Chapter 9
Reinforcement in the Twenty-First
Century
Abstract In the twenty-first century, we have to practice sustainable development
(SD) in all our activity under an increasing globalization trend. Technically speaking,
globalization is supported by the developments of transportation and information.
The latter is, in essence, a transportation of information, i.e., communication, while
the former is concerned with that of humankind and cargoes. Reinforcement of rubber
is an important issue related to transportation by bicycles, automobiles, and aircraft
via tires. Prospective considerations on them are given from a few viewpoints of
materials (rubber, nanofiller, cross-linking, etc.), soft processing, and new devices.
Particularly, new types of device are to be developed, e.g., airless (non-pneumatic)
tires. Overall, it is predicted that rubber reinforcement remains to be an indispensable
issue until early in the twenty-second century.
Keywords Sustainable development · Globalization · Transportation · Information
technology (IT) · Airless tires
9.1 Globalization and Sustainable Development: Historical
Background
9.1.1 Globalization: Transportation and Information
In a sense, globalization has been a constant and intrinsic human trend since the
origin of human beings up to the present, and one short definition of globalization is
as follows [1]:
Globalization is about growing worldwide interconnectivity.
However, this simple definition by a sociology professor (the author of Ref. [1])
seems to be remote from us: Apparently, it lacks concreteness or too abstract from
a practical viewpoint, and we have to propose a definite measure. Therefore, we are
going to check the geographical globalization of our ancestors first.
The Homo, human beings, whose birth was 6–8 million bce (before Common
Era), have always been wandering about. The motivation was to search for food, of
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. Kohjiya et al., Reinforcement of Rubber, Springer Series on Polymer
and Composite Materials, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3789-9_9
167
Reinforcement in the Twenty-First
Century
Abstract In the twenty-first century, we have to practice sustainable development
(SD) in all our activity under an increasing globalization trend. Technically speaking,
globalization is supported by the developments of transportation and information.
The latter is, in essence, a transportation of information, i.e., communication, while
the former is concerned with that of humankind and cargoes. Reinforcement of rubber
is an important issue related to transportation by bicycles, automobiles, and aircraft
via tires. Prospective considerations on them are given from a few viewpoints of
materials (rubber, nanofiller, cross-linking, etc.), soft processing, and new devices.
Particularly, new types of device are to be developed, e.g., airless (non-pneumatic)
tires. Overall, it is predicted that rubber reinforcement remains to be an indispensable
issue until early in the twenty-second century.
Keywords Sustainable development · Globalization · Transportation · Information
technology (IT) · Airless tires
9.1 Globalization and Sustainable Development: Historical
Background
9.1.1 Globalization: Transportation and Information
In a sense, globalization has been a constant and intrinsic human trend since the
origin of human beings up to the present, and one short definition of globalization is
as follows [1]:
Globalization is about growing worldwide interconnectivity.
However, this simple definition by a sociology professor (the author of Ref. [1])
seems to be remote from us: Apparently, it lacks concreteness or too abstract from
a practical viewpoint, and we have to propose a definite measure. Therefore, we are
going to check the geographical globalization of our ancestors first.
The Homo, human beings, whose birth was 6–8 million bce (before Common
Era), have always been wandering about. The motivation was to search for food, of
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. Kohjiya et al., Reinforcement of Rubber, Springer Series on Polymer
and Composite Materials, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3789-9_9
167