THE DEVELOPMENTS SERIESDevelopments in many fields of science and technology occur at such a pace that frequently there is a long delay before information about them becomes available and usually it is inconveniently scattered among several journals.Developments Series books overcome these disadvantages by bringing together within one cover papers dealing with the latest trends and developments in a specific field of study and publishing them within six months of their being written.Many subjects are covered by the series, including food science and technology, polymer science, civil and public health engineering, pressure vessels, composite materials, concrete, building science, petroleum technology, geology, etc.Information on other titles in the series will gladly be sent on application to the publisher. WITH 80 TABLES AND 57 ILLUSTRATIONS (0 APPLIED SCIENCE PUBLISHERS LTD 1981 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers,
PREFACEThis book is intended for those people who have a knowledge or understanding of rubber materials and processes but who wish to update their knowledge. It should be read in conjunction with Developments in Rubber Technology-l as that volume discussed developments in natural rubber and selected special purpose synthetic rubbers as well as additives.The authors have been selected for their expertise in each particular field and we, as editors, would like to express our appreciation to the individual authors and also to their companies. Such a book would be impossible to produce without such active cooperation as we have received.Volumes 1 and 2 of Developments in Rubber Technology cover rubbers which are processed and vulcanised in the traditional manner. It is appreciated that the omission of non-vulcanised rubber materials (the socalled thermoplastic elastomers) will be unwelcome to many readers but it is intended, because of the size of the subject, to cover these materials in a subsequent volume. v A.W. K.S.L.