Rubber's road ahead

摘要

The conclusions of the UK Elastomer Roadmap on future R&D activities and industry priorities were presented to delegates of the third Annual Rubber Seminar, 'From Nano to Micro', which was held on 19 May in Manchester, UK. Developed by the Materials KTN's Polymer Innovation Network (PIN), the document is the result of a roadmapping meeting held late last year. It outlines the strengths of the UK elastomer market, including the increasing use of elastomers in defence and healthcare, as well as its weaknesses, such as limited funding to support R&D and slow take-up of technology in plastics. The roadmap's key recommendations include more funding for recycling programmes, increased contact with schools to improve recruitment, a database of elastomer research institutions and training centres, better methods for predicting the lifetime of products, and further exploration of smart elastomers such as gecko tape.