Waste rubber based composite foams

Abstract

The common strategies for recycling of waste rubbers have been the conversion of rubbers into thermoplastic elastomers and use in composite foams. The advantages of waste rubber composite foams are that they are lightweight, low cost and provide an ecological and economic solution for the disposal of waste rubbers. Rubber foams possess interesting properties such as thermal and acoustic insulation as well as impact damping. This has led to their use in thermal insulation, energy absorption and non-structural applications. This book chapter aims to document the findings relating to the use of waste rubber eg. waste ground tyre rubber (GTR), waste latex glove and waste ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) in composite foams. The chapter will describe common processing techniques used to manufacture such composite foams and studies dealing with the preparation and characterization of waste rubber composite foams and their properties have also been enumerated. Finally, the applications of the rubber foams in different industrial sectors are also discussed.