Reinforcement of natural rubber was achieved using carboxylated multiwalled carbon
nanotubes (c-MWCNT) dispersed with sodium dodecyl sulfate. The structure of the reinforced
latex films was investigated by TEM and AFM. The tensile and dynamic-mechanical
tests demonstrated a strong enhancement in the Young’s modulus (10-fold), tensile
strength (2-fold) and storage modulus (60-fold) at low-strain in the rubbery state with
up to 8.3 wt% of MWCNTs, with a small reduction in elongation at break.