CHAPTER 3: Rubber–Rectorite Composites with High Gas Barrier Properties

Rubber–clay nanocomposites have attracted considerable attention in the fields of materials science and engineering due to their high performance, especially their high gas barrier property. Rectorite, a kind of clay mineral, has a higher aspect ratio compared with montmorillonite, and is expected to endow the rubber–clay nanocomposites with a larger enhancement in composite performance. In this chapter, we describe the dominant mechanisms for the transport of gas molecules in rubbers and rubber nanocomposites, and the influence of the characteristics of the inorganic particles on the barrier properties of the composite is discussed. The emphasis is placed on the gas permeability of the various reported rubber–rectorite nanocomposites, and the potential approaches to further improve the gas barrier properties are also presented. Additionally, some other properties of rubber–rectorite nanocomposites are also introduced.