Introduction
Corn flour (CF) is an abundant and economical raw material source for commercial applications. A typical corn flour is
composed of 88% starch and 6% protein (Zein) with the balance being fat, crude fiber, ash, and other polysaccharides. Corn
starch is composed of 25–30% of linear amylose polymer and 70–75% of branched amylopectin polymer [1]. Dry CF particles
are rigid with a storage modulus of 1 GPa and therefore should provide reinforcement for soft polymers such as rubbers.
Reinforcement fillers from natural sources are sustainable, light weight, carbon neutral, biodegradable, and renewable. For
bio-fillers, better reinforcement was frequently found when the aqueous dispersion of bio-filler is mixed with rubber latex
instead of direct compounding of bio-fillers with rubber in a thermal mechanical process because they do not disperse well
in such process. For renewable rubber composites, NR latex is a major source of renewable rubber and the same drying process
for drying natural rubber (NR) latex can be used after the latex is mixed with the dispersion of bio-filler particles. NR,
mostly cis-1,4-polyisoprene capable of strain-induced crystallization, has good mechanical properties. NR also contains up to