The blending of two
or more rubber types is useful for the preparation of
materials with properties absent in the rubber components
[2–4]. Natural rubber (NR) and its blend compounds have
been extensively studied because of their superior performance
in tire applications. Natural rubber is prone to
deterioration by ozone attack due to its highly unsaturated
polymeric backbone. In general, improvement in the poor
ozone resistance of NR can be achieved by blending it with
low-unsaturation rubbers such as ethylene–propylene–
diene rubber (EPDM).