Part I: Manufacturing, Processing and Properties of Natural Rubber 1. Chemical fundamentals relevant to natural rubber 2. Commonalities and complexities in rubber biosynthesis 3. New Insight into the vulcanization mechanism of natural rubber 4. Role of theoretical chemistry in elucidating rubber vulcanization mechanism 5. Structure of natural rubber as revealed by X-ray and neutron scattering 6. Mechano-chemistry of natural rubber during processing
Part II: Applications of Natural Rubber 7. Properties of Natural Rubbers from Guayule and Rubber Dandelion 8. Utilization of carbon allotropes with special reference to carbon nanotubes and graphene for the high performance of natural rubber 9. Natural Rubber and Epoxidized Natural Rubber in Combination with Silica Fillers for Low Rolling Resistance Tires 10. Fundamentals and recent applications of natural rubber latex in dipping technology 11. Potential application of natural rubber latex nanoparticles to tissue engineering
Part III: Research Retrospectives and Future Developments 12. A short history of Natural Rubber research 13. Establishing of Rubber Research Institute and a Century of Natural Rubber Research Activity in Sri Lanka 14. Sustainable development of natural rubber in the twenty first century
Shinzo Kohjiya is a Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University, Japan.
Yuko Ikeda is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Materials Technology, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan.