Cost saving is a universal headache for all the manufacturers and, of course rubber ones are concerned, the more so as rubber goods are mass-produced and must vie with plastics which are easy to process.
There are several routes such as filling with cheap fillers, already examined in a previous paper but on the opposite, the use of expensive but performing fillers allows cost savings.
This paper is going to deal with expensive and performing fillers that are in little number but are irreplaceable for high tech applications bringing in addition to cost saving some specific properties.
Some of these fillers are very widespread such as carbon blacks or silicas but others are more specific such as aramid pulp or nanoclays.
The simplest meaning is the cost of the considered part but it is not the most realistic for an industrial point of view, the more so as its function is more sophisticated and the working of the set including it is essential.
We must generally consider the cost as a whole including:
The cost of the considered part that can be divided into:
*The raw material cost