In no other phase of human development was produced such amount of waste as currently. Its composition and quantity are directly related to the way the population lives, socioeconomic condition and the ease of access to consumer goods. The irregular disposition of such waste may cause harmful environmental impacts. One of the most dangerous solid wastes is the vulcanized rubber, which, besides having high natural degradation time, has many chemical additives on its formulation and the possibility to store rain water when disposed in landfills and may become a breeding place for vectors. So, recycling comes against this problem and devulcanization is a way of recycling that restores the fluidity of the rubber. One of the applications of this devulcanized rubber is in the production of polymeric blends. Devulcanization of rubbers, the application of this material in polymeric blends based on thermoplastic/recycled rubber, and the parameters involved during the processing of these materials will be addressed in this work.
Part of the book: Elastomers