4. Thermoplastic rubbers
These new types of rubber appeared on the market in the 1970s and are classified into four main families:
styrene-based block copolymers;
polyurethanes ;
PP (polypropylene)-based physical blends;
copolyesters.
Here again, there are numerous grades in each family. Their main characteristic, due to the presence of elastic and thermoplastic phases in their molecular structure, is that at moderate temperatures they behave like vulcanized rubbers, but can be processed like plastics at high temperatures.
Table 8 shows the main properties and grades of these rubbers. In general, the temperature limit is set by the requirements for...
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Thermoplastic rubbers
Economic data
Production capacity and consumption
Although some production figures are estimated, the world total of 6.4 million tonnes of natural rubber corresponds fairly closely to reality in 1996.
Bibliography
References
Standardization
The standards for the main tests cited in article
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