Owing to processing ease and resistance to oils and chemicals, NBR is widely used in many industries. But since neat NBR has only poor tensile properties, it is better to use suitable blends of NR and NBR after incorporating appropriate nanoingredients before vulcanization. It is well established that nanoparticles can be easily dispersed in a more uniform pattern in polymer matrix, thereby enhancing the technological properties of the elastomer vulcanizate. Since there are no systematic comparative studies on technological properties of NBR/NR blend containing different nanoingredients, efforts have been made in this study to investigate cure and technological properties like tensile properties, tear resistance, compression set, hardness, abrasion loss and swelling value of NBR/NR (80/20) blend vulcanizates containing stearic acid-coated nano-zinc oxide (ZOS), nano-BIAT, nano-silicate-coated CaCO3, PEO-coated calcium silicate, and surface-modified carbon nanotubes (CNT). XRD and electron microscopy have been used for morphological analysis. The nano ingredients were effective in enhancing the technological properties of the vulcanizates. Among the nanofillers, modified CNT was found to impart superior properties to NBR/NR blend due to more intercalation. 1. Introduction Owing to processing ease and resistance to oils and chemicals, NBR is widely used in many industries. However, neat NBR exhibits only poor tensile properties and oil resistance. A considerable amount of research has been made over the last several years with a view to obtaining new polymeric materials with enhanced specific attributes for specific applications. Much attention is devoted to the simplest route for combining outstanding properties of different existing polymers, that is, by blending polymers. Although increasing numbers of miscible blends are reported [1–5], most polymers are almost immiscible, thus leading to heterophase polymer blends. There are two widely used types of elastomer blends: miscible single-phase blends and immiscible two-phase blends. It is scientifically proved that the presence of certain polymeric species with the right structure can result in compatibilization of an immiscible elastomer blend by virtue of their ability to change interfacial situation [6–8]. Such materials, known as compatibilizers, are added or in situ formed during blending of elastomers. The compatibilizers in elastomer blends perform many roles like reducing interfacial energy between the phases, permitting finer dispersion during mixing, providing stability against gross
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