Preface
Rubber has since many year had a significant impact on human life. Rubber
products mark one of the building blocks of technology and industry. This material
is widely used to manufacture erasers to flexible conductors. Various types of
particles are also used to fill rubber and to make micro as well as nanocomposites
(depending on the nature of filler) having excellent properties. A lot of publications
are produced each year about rubber and its composites, and its increasing importance makes its study essential.
The manufacture of both natural and synthetic rubber based products is basically
done by following the procedure of melt mixing. Extruders as well as Haake mixing
equipments are used for this purpose. Since the properties of the obtained composites depend on the nature of dispersion of the fillers in rubber, the particles have to
be uniformly distributed throughout the medium. For this, knowledge of the flow
behavior of rubber is very necessary. All elastomers are viscoelastic in nature and
the study of their viscoelasticity is known as rheology. Since the terms rubber,
polymer, and elastomer are synonyms, throughout this book these terms are used
interchangeably. The viscoelastic nature can be linear and nonlinear depending on
the response of the materials with respect to time. The viscoelasticity of elastomers
is nonlinear in nature and this book deals with a thorough study of the nonlinear
behavior of rubber composites and nanocomposites.
Fillers in nanodimensions are classified in to three categories—one, two, and
three dimensions, respectively, based on their number of sides in nano. For instance
nanofibers come under one dimensional, nanoplates like clay and graphene under
2D and nano-spheres under 3D fillers. The nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of
rubbers filled with these three kinds of filler categories are discussed subsequently
in Chaps. 2 to 4. In Chap. 2 the readers can see a good introduction about the
different types of nanofillers and the authors talk about nanotubes, nanorods, and
nanofibers in depth. Different preparation methods of the nanocomposites, mode of
dispersion, and its influence on surface morphologies of various elastomers, chemical modifications on the filler, etc. are studied. Rheological properties including
cure kinetics, storage and loss moduli, and complex viscosities as functions of
v
Rubber has since many year had a significant impact on human life. Rubber
products mark one of the building blocks of technology and industry. This material
is widely used to manufacture erasers to flexible conductors. Various types of
particles are also used to fill rubber and to make micro as well as nanocomposites
(depending on the nature of filler) having excellent properties. A lot of publications
are produced each year about rubber and its composites, and its increasing importance makes its study essential.
The manufacture of both natural and synthetic rubber based products is basically
done by following the procedure of melt mixing. Extruders as well as Haake mixing
equipments are used for this purpose. Since the properties of the obtained composites depend on the nature of dispersion of the fillers in rubber, the particles have to
be uniformly distributed throughout the medium. For this, knowledge of the flow
behavior of rubber is very necessary. All elastomers are viscoelastic in nature and
the study of their viscoelasticity is known as rheology. Since the terms rubber,
polymer, and elastomer are synonyms, throughout this book these terms are used
interchangeably. The viscoelastic nature can be linear and nonlinear depending on
the response of the materials with respect to time. The viscoelasticity of elastomers
is nonlinear in nature and this book deals with a thorough study of the nonlinear
behavior of rubber composites and nanocomposites.
Fillers in nanodimensions are classified in to three categories—one, two, and
three dimensions, respectively, based on their number of sides in nano. For instance
nanofibers come under one dimensional, nanoplates like clay and graphene under
2D and nano-spheres under 3D fillers. The nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of
rubbers filled with these three kinds of filler categories are discussed subsequently
in Chaps. 2 to 4. In Chap. 2 the readers can see a good introduction about the
different types of nanofillers and the authors talk about nanotubes, nanorods, and
nanofibers in depth. Different preparation methods of the nanocomposites, mode of
dispersion, and its influence on surface morphologies of various elastomers, chemical modifications on the filler, etc. are studied. Rheological properties including
cure kinetics, storage and loss moduli, and complex viscosities as functions of
v