Review on the Conceptual Design of Self-Healable Nitrile Rubber Composites

[Image: see text] The search for suitable strategies to manufacture self-healable nitrile rubber (NBR) composites is the most promising part in the industrial field of polar rubber research. In recent years, some important strategies, specifically, metal–ligand coordination bond formation, ionic bond formation, and dynamic hydrogen bond formation, have been utilized to develop duly self-healable NBR composites. This paper reviews the continuous advancement in the research field related to self-healable NBR composites by considering healing strategies and healing conditions. Special attention is given to understand the healing mechanism in reversibly cross-linked NBR systems. The healing efficiency of a cross-linked NBR network is usually dependent on the definite interaction between functional groups of NBR and a cross-linking agent. Finally, the results obtained from successful studies suggest that self-healing technology has incredible potential to increase the sustainability and lifetime of NBR-based rubber products.