1. Introduction
Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) are polymeric materials
that combine the advantages of the processing of thermoplastics
with the outstanding mechanical properties and
elastic recovery of vulcanized rubber [1]. Thermoplastic
Natural Rubber (TPNR) is a TPE prepared by melt mixing
natural rubber (NR) with a polyolefin such as polypropylene
(PP) at different proportions [2]. In addition to
polypropylene which has been extensively used for the
preparation of TPNR [1–5], low density polyethylene and
high density polyethylene have also been used [6–11].
Polypropylene is chosen owing to its crystallinity and its
good thermal stability which would, therefore, increase the
service temperature interval of the resulting TPNR.