Studies on microcellular soles based on natural rubber/polyethylene blends

Microcellular (MC) soles based on NR/polyethylene blends were developed as possible replacements for the conventional NR/HSR soles. The mechanical pro perties of the soles suggest that 80/20 NR/LDPE blends can be used for ligh t weight good quality soles. 80/20 blends of NR/HDPE are also found to be p romising base materials for good quality soles. A part of HSR in a NR/HSR b lend was replaced by LDPE and the effect of replacement on the mechanical p roperties was evaluated. It is found that 70/15/15 NR/HSR/LDPE and 60/20/20 NR/HSR/LDPE based MC soles show better mechanical properties than NR/LDPE based MC soles. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.