Over the past two decades or so, the necessity of processing aids has been certainly recognized in the domestic use for rubber processing. Obviously, this is because many end-users have found that they can lower the defect rates of rubber products, improving their quality, and some of them have also noticed their additional contribution to reduction of production cost attributed to decreased power consumption. On the other hand, processing aids within filled rubbers have significant effects on polymers at the molecular level and on the nano-sized fillers. In this article, we will state the role and action of only lubricants, comprised of fatty acid derivatives, in mixing and extrusion processes, and also present part of certain performance data for a most recently marketed lubricant effective for better silica dispersion in a silica filled compound.
