Resin-extended rubber and process for preparing

1. A resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement comprising:

a. 100 parts of at least one conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber,

b. at least one non-polar solvent, and

c. 5 to 100 phr of at least one thermoplastic resin, wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin is guayule resin, a dicyclopentadiene resin, or both;

wherein the non-polar solvent is selected from the group consisting of: alkanes having from 4 to 9 carbon atoms, cycloalkanes or alkyl cycloalkanes having from 5 to 10 carbon atoms, or aromatics and alkyl substituted aromatics having from 6 to 12 carbon atoms.

2. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 1 , wherein the at least one conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber comprises at least one of styrene-butadiene copolymer, polybutadiene, styrene-isoprene rubber, styrene-butadiene-isoprene rubber, natural rubber, or polyisoprene.

3. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 1 , wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin meets at least one of the following:

a. has a Mn of 400 to 5000 grams/mole;

b. is a solid at 25° C.;

c. has a Tg of at least 25° C.

4. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 3 , where each of (a)-(c) is met.

5. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 1 , further comprising at least one petroleum oil or plant oil.

6. A rubber composition comprising:

a. resin-extended rubber comprising n parts of rubber including at least one conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber and up to 100 phr of at least one thermoplastic resin, wherein n is an integer from 10 to 100;

b. optionally at least one additional rubber in an amount of 100−n parts;

c. at least one reinforcing filler in a total amount of 10-200 phr; and

d. a cure package;

wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin is guayule resin.

7. The rubber composition of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the following is met:

the at least one conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber comprises at least one of styrene-butadiene copolymer, polybutadiene, styrene-isoprene rubber, styrene-butadiene-isoprene rubber, natural rubber, or polyisoprene.

8. The rubber composition of claim 7 , wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin meets at least one of the following:

c. has a Mn of 400 to 5000 grams/mole;

d. is a solid at 25° C.;

e. has a Tg of at least 25° C.

9. The rubber composition of claim 8 , wherein each of (a)-(e) are met.

10. The rubber composition of claim 8 , wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin is a dicyclopentadiene resin.

11. A resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement comprising:

a. 100 parts of at least one conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber, wherein the at least one conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber comprises at least one of styrene-butadiene copolymer, polybutadiene, styrene-isoprene rubber, styrene-butadiene-isoprene rubber, natural rubber, or polyisoprene;

b. at least one non-polar solvent, wherein the non-polar solvent is selected from the group consisting of: alkanes having from 4 to 9 carbon atoms, cycloalkanes or alkyl cycloalkanes having from 5 to 10 carbon atoms, or aromatics and alkyl substituted aromatics having from 6 to 12 carbon atoms, and

c. 5 to 100 phr of at least one thermoplastic resin, extended with a second non-polar solvent;

wherein the resin comprises at least one of: C5 resin, C9 resin, terpene resin, terpene-phenolic resin, rosin resin, cyclopentadiene resin, guayule resin, phenol novolak resin, phenol-formaldehyde resin, resorcinol-formaldehyde resin, reactive resol resin, reactive novolak type phenol-formaldehyde resin, or a combination thereof;

wherein the at least one conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber is produced by an anionic polymerization process that utilizes a randomizer.

12. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 11 , wherein the second non-polar solvent is the same as the non-polar solvent.

13. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 11 , wherein the second non-polar solvent is different from the non-polar solvent.

14. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 11 , wherein the non-polar solvent and second non-polar solvent are exclusive of any solvent that will cause coagulation of the conjugated diene monomer-containing rubber.

15. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 11 , wherein the second non-polar solvent is selected from the group consisting of: alkanes having from 4 to 9 carbon atoms, cycloalkanes or alkyl cycloalkanes having from 5 to 10 carbon atoms, or aromatics and alkyl substituted aromatics having from 6 to 12 carbon atoms.

16. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 11 , wherein the resin comprises at least one of: terpene resin, terpene-phenolic resin, rosin resin, cyclopentadiene resin, guayule resin, phenol novolak resin, phenol-formaldehyde resin, resorcinol-formaldehyde resin, reactive resol resin, reactive novolak type phenol-formaldehyde resin, or a combination thereof.

17. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 11 , wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin is guayule resin, a dicyclopentadiene resin, or both.

18. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 1 , wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin is present in an amount of 80 to 100 phr.

19. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 1 , wherein the at least one thermoplastic resin is extended with a second non-polar solvent.

20. The resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement of claim 11 , wherein the resin-extended rubber-solvent-cement further comprises one or more antioxidants or terminators, and is essentially exclusive of other components.