MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND DURABILITY OF NATURAL RUBBER COMPOUNDS AND COMPOSITES Joseph Thomas South Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering Science Kenneth L. Reifsnider, Chair Scott W. Case John J. Lesko Herve Marand Brian J. Love December 14, 2001 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: Natural Rubber, Cord-Rubber Composite, Rubber Reversion, Crosslink Copyright 2001, Joseph Thomas South