Progress and Challenges of Rubber Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Since the discovery of rubber and vulcanization process, rubber-based products have become irreplaceable materials not only in various technological applications but also in everyday life, from tiny seals and gaskets, conveyor belts, and tires to products used in the pharmacy, healthcare, and food industries. With the development of science and technology, rubber-related materials have also been part of more challenging applications, ranging from marine, aviation, or space technology to sensors, actuators, or shielding materials. This poses much higher demands on the requirements of rubber-based products in terms of their functional properties. Thus, more research interest is focused on smart material structures and composites, functional fillers, special additives, vulcanization systems, testing methodologies, and production strategies.

With an increasing demand for tires as well as other rubber-related products, an increasing amount of waste rubber is produced every year. Waste rubber has become a serious problem that is causing serious environmental and socioeconomical issues. Thus, efficient methods for waste rubber valorization and recycling technologies are needed.

This trend is also narrowly linked with the utilization of biodegradable or eco-friendly materials to pursuit the “European Green Deal”. One way to produce greener and more sustainable rubber products is to utilize untraditional additives originating from renewable resources and modify waste rubber into rubber compounds. The application of natural-derived raw materials or recovery of waste rubber into rubber matrices paves the way for the production of products with a higher added value, pronounced ecological and economical aspects, and with a positive effect on reducing carbon footprint.

This Special Issue, entitled “Progress and Challenges of Rubber Materials”, is devoted to all aspects of rubber science and technology, including, but not limited to, the following: rubbers, thermoplastic elastomers, blends, composites, smart materials, eco-friendly materials, fillers, vulcanization systems, rheology, new approaches in testing, methodology, processing and fabrication techniques, 3D-printing, ageing, and recycling.

Dr. Jan Kruzelak
Prof. Dr. Ivan Hudec
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.