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Foundations on Rubber Science, Technology and Manufacturing

By Prof. Santanu Chattopadhyay   |   IIT Kharagpur
Learners enrolled: 766   |  Exam registration: 156
ABOUT THE COURSE:

Welcome to the NPTEL course on Foundations on Rubber Science, Technology and Manufacturing, designed to integrate foundational principles with cutting-edge advancements across various domains of rubber science. Over twelve weeks, participants will delve into polymer fundamentals, rubber chemistry, physics, and technology, progressing from basic concepts to specialized applications. Key topics include synthesis, manufacturing processes, and properties of general-purpose and specialty rubbers. Compounding strategies, adhesive technology, and the complexities of rubber-to-metal bonding will be explored in depth, emphasizing practical skills and theoretical insights. Real-world applications in industries like automotive, aerospace, and healthcare will illustrate the importance of rubber materials. The course also addresses sustainability, recycling technologies, and future perspectives in rubber science, preparing participants to innovate and adapt to industry challenges. By the end of this course, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of rubber science (chemistry, physics),engineering and technology, enabling them to contribute meaningfully to advancements in this essential material. Join us for a transformative journey into the diverse and dynamic world of rubber technology.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: 3rd and 4th year UG, 1st and 2nd Year PG/PhD students studying in Polymer Science and Technology/ Rubber Technology/ Plastic Engineering Science and Technology/ Industrial Chemistry/ Applied Chemistry/ Metallurgical and Materials Engineering/ Chemical Engineering/ Mechanical Engineering/ Materials Science/ Ceramic Science and Technology/ Nanotechnology and personals from various R&Ds of Indian Industries having the prerequisites as mentioned below.

PREREQUISITES:
For students: High school knowledge in Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics are required.
For R&D personals: UG or PG degree(s) in any of the mentioned subjects as mentioned earlier.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Tata Steel R&D, Reliance, Tata Chemicals, IRMRA, CEAT Tyres, JK Tyres, Apollo Tyres, TATA Jamshedpur, Asian Paints, Pidilite Industries, Michelin Tyre, ALP Overseas, BKT, Ralson, Himadri Chemicals, Philips Carbon, Birla Carbon, Madhu Silica, Evonik, Momentive, Saint Gobains, Allied defense laboratories of Govt. of India and others allied industries not mentioned here.
Summary
Course Status : Ongoing
Course Type : Core
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Metallurgy and Material science & Mining Engineering
  • Polymers and Colloidal Materials
Credit Points : 3
Level : Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date : 21 Jul 2025
End Date : 10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends : 04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends : 22 Aug 2025
Exam Date : 01 Nov 2025 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

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Course layout

Week 1:  Introduction to Rubber Science
  1. History and Importance of Rubber, Rubber Plantation: Cultivation and Harvesting, Challenges in Natural Rubber Production 
  2. Types of Rubber: Natural vs. Synthetic vs. Specialty Rubbers 
  3. Applications of Rubber in Various Industries 
  4. Hyper elasticity, Thermo elasticity and Viscoelasticity: Three Basics Attributes of Rubbers 
  5. Structure Property Correlation
Week 2: Synthesis, Vulcanization & Properties of Rubbers/Elastomers
  1. Polymerization of Rubbers: Synthesis and Techniques 
  2. Modification of Rubbers: Chemical modification, TPE and blending 
  3. Vulcanization of Rubbers: Components (Sulfur, Peroxide, Accelerators, Acceler ator Activator), Chemistry and Kinetics 
  4. Physical Testing: Static & Dynamic Mechanical Testing 
  5. Thermal Properties of Rubbers/Elastomers
Week 3: Rubber Physics: Elasticity, Thermo elasticity and Viscoelasticity
  1. Origin of Elasticity and Thermo elasticity 
  2. Physics of Rubber Elasticity 
  3. Physics of Viscoelasticity 1 
  4. Physics of Viscoelasticity 2 
  5. Basics of Rheology of Rubbers and Practical D emonstration on Rubber Process Analyzer, Parallel Plate Rheometer, Mooney V iscometer, ODR and MDR (Video Link)
Week 4: Rubber Compounding
  1. Introduction to Rubber Compounding, its Significance, Types of Compounding Ingredients 
  2. Anti degradants (Antioxidants and Antiozonants) 
  3. Fillers: Reinforcing, Non Reinforcing, Special Fillers (Rubber Nanocomposites) 
  4. Plasticizers &s; Process oils 
  5. Flame Retardants and Miscellaneous Ingredients
Week 5: General Purpose Rubber: Synthesis, Manufacturing and Properties
  1. Natural Rubber (NR), Synthetic Isoprene Rubber (IR) 
  2. Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) and Isobutylene Isoprene Rubber/Butyl Rubber (IIR) 
  3. Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR), Hydrogenated Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (HNBR), and Carboxylated Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (XNBR) 
  4. Butadiene Rubber (BR), Chloroprene Rubber/Neoprene (CR) and Practical on Identification of Rubbers/Polymers Identification of Polymer and Wet Tests (Video Link) 
  5. Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM), Other Unsaturated Hydrocarbon Homopolymer Rubbers (Polypentenamers PDCPD or PPD, Polyoctenamers POD and Polynorbornenes PNR) and, Practical on Pyrolysis Test, Soxhlet Extraction, and Swelling (Video Link)
Week 6: Specialty Rubbers: Synthesis, manufacturing and properties
  1. Silicone Rubber (Q or VMQ) 
  2. Acrylic and Other Rubbers with Ester Side Chain ACM (Acrylic Copolymer Rubber), AEM (Ethylene Acrylate Rubber) 
  3. Polyurethane (AU Polyester based, EU Polyether based) and Fluoro Rubber (FKM) 
  4. Thermoplastic Rubber (TPR) and Thermoplastic Vulcanizates (TPV) 
  5. Miscellaneous Rubbery Materials (Polysulfide T or PSR, Polyether CO and ECO, and Halogenated Polyethylene CM or CPE), and Practical on Identification Compounds on UV Vis and FTIR, and Sulphur Analyzer (Video Link)
Week 7: Rubber Processing
  1. Different Processing Equipment: Overview 
  2. Rubber Mixing and Processing in Two Roll Mill 
  3. Defects during processing and Handling Cautions 
  4. Rubber Molding and Molding Parameters 
  5. Rubber Testing and Testing Standards (ASTM, ISO) and Practical demonstration on Two Roll Mill and Internal Mixer (Video Link)
Week 8: Engineering on Rubber Products: Manufacturing, Designing Parameters and Testing
  1. Tyre 
  2. Conveyor belt 
  3. Hose 
  4. Anti-vibration mounts 
  5. Miscellaneous applications
Week 9: Rubber Composites: Fabrication, processing and applications
  1. Composites and its types 
  2. Reinforcement: Particulate, Fibers and Textiles 
  3. Synergism in Properties: Mechanical, Electrical and Morphological Properties 
  4. Textile Technology: Fundamentals & Basic Terminology 
  5. Application of Textiles in Rubbers Industry (Rubber to Fabric Adhesion and Surface Treatment Included) and Practical Demonstration on Tensile, Tear, Compression, Hardness, Tension set, and Hysteresis (Video Link)
Week 10: Adhesion Science and Technology, its Implication in Rubber Industry
  1. Concept of Adhesion 
  2. Adhesion Parameters: Surface Energy, Surface Roughness, and Spreading Coefficient 
  3. Rubber based Adhesion Science and Technology, Different Types of Adhesion: Adhesion between Partially Vulcanized, and Partially Vulcanized, Adhesion between Vulcanized and Vulcanized Rubber 
  4. Rubber to Metal Bonding 
  5. Practical Demonstration on Adhesion
Week 11: Lifetime Estimation of Rubber Products
  1. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and i ts Application in the Manufacturing of Rubber Products 
  2. Hyper Elastic Models and their Application in Simulation 
  3. Die Design & Modelling for Predicting Flow Behavior 
  4. Finite Element Method Based Damage Model 
  5. Practical Demonstration
Week 12: Research and Development in Rubber Science
  1. Current Advancements in Rubbers 
  2. Innovations in Rubber Processing Techniques - Possibilities on 3-D printing 
  3. Computational Modelling in Rubber Technology 
  4. Role of Rubber in Sustainable Development: Biodegradable and Green Rubbers, Regulatory Frameworks for Environmental Compliance, Circular Economy 
  5. Industry-Academia Collaborations, Career Opportunities and Start-up

Books and references

  1. "Rubber Technology" by Maurice Morton, 1999. 
  2. "Rubbery Materials and their Compounds" by J.A. Brydson, 1988. 
  3. "Science and Technology of Rubber" by Frederick R. Eirich, 2005. 
  4. "Engineering with Rubber: How to Design Rubber Components" by Alan N. Gent, 1992. 
  5. “The Vanderbilt Rubber Handbook” edited by S. S. Rogers, 1948. 
  6. "Principles of Polymer Chemistry" by Paul J. Flory, 1953. 
  7. "Statistical Mechanics of Chain Molecules" by Paul J. Flory, 1969. 
  8. "Introduction to Polymer Viscoelasticity" by John D. Ferry, 1972. 
  9. "Introduction to Polymer Viscoelasticity" by John J. Aklonis and William J. MacKnight, 1983. 
  10. “Handbook of Elastomers” edited by Anil K. Bhowmick, Howard Stephens, 2000. 
  11. "Rubber Products Manufacturing Technology" edited by Anil K. Bhowmick, Malcolm M. Hall, and Henry A. Benarey, 1994. 
  12. "Rubber Processing: Technology, Materials, and Principles" by C.M. Blow and C. Hepburn, 1982. 
  13. "Rubber Technology Handbook" by Werner Hofmann, 1988. 
  14. "Carbon Black: Science and Technology" by Michel B. R. Donnet, R. C. Bansal, and M. J. Wang, 1993. 
  15. "Adhesion Science and Engineering: Surfaces, Chemistry and Applications" by AV Pocius and DA Dillard, 2002. 
  16. "Adhesive and Bonding to Polyolefins" by D. M. Brewis, 2002. 
  17. "Handbook of Adhesion Technology" by Lucas F. M. da Silva, Andreas Öchsner, and Robert D. Adams, 2011. 
  18. "The Application of Textiles in Rubber" by D.B. Wootton, 2001. 
  19. "Introduction to Physical Polymer Science" by L. H. Sperling, 2005. 
  20. “Fundamental Principles of Polymeric Materials” by Stephen L. Rosen, 1982.

Instructor bio

Prof. Santanu Chattopadhyay

IIT Kharagpur
Dr. Santanu Chattopadhyay is currently a Professor at the Rubber Technology Centre, and Associate Dean (SA) at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. He has been serving there as a faculty member since 2004. Prof. Chattopadhyay pursued his postdoctoral research work at the Georgia Institute of Technology, from the Chemical Engineering Department. Prior to that, he did his postdoctoral studies as well at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Prof. Chattopadhyay earned his Ph.D. from IIT Kharagpur working on Rubber Technology. Prior to these, he earned his M. Tech. (Materials Science and Engineering) and M.Sc. (Chemistry) from IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur, respectively. His research interests include fracture of elastomeric composites, Life prediction of rubber products, Smart rubber composites, Biomaterials, and Polymers for health care and energy harvesting, FEA of rubbery/textile material, Rubber-based nanocomposites, Rubber compounding and modification, Viscoelastic behavior of rubbers and polymer blends, Polymer processing and rheology. He has offered 2 NPTEL courses to date. Completed supervising 30 students for PhD
Prof. Chattopadhyay has 200+ Research articles, 5 patents, 170+ International/National Conferences, 12 Book chapters, 40+ Conference sessions chaired and invited talks delivered.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: November 01, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kharagpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team
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