When you think of rubber, elastic bands, car tires or pencil erasers come to mind. But this stretchy material actually finds its way into thousands of other products such as rubber stamps, waterproof shoes, surfing wetsuits, swimming caps, and hoses. Due to the material’s versatility, rubber applications are almost endless.

Rubber, a commonly used material for over 1000 years, originated from natural resources or chemical plants.

To help you identify the best materials to source for your business, contact Real Seal to create a customized solution and value for your business.

Natural Rubber

Natural rubber, made from a runny, milky white liquid called latex, is derived from certain plants such as dandelions. While there are over 200 plants in the world that can produce latex, over 99% of the world’s natural rubber is made from the latex that is derived from a tree species called Heva Brasilensis, also known as rubber tree.

Latex made from Heva Brasilensis is about one third water and one third rubber particles held in a form known as colloidal suspension. Natural rubber is made of thousands of basic C5H8 units (the monomer of isoprene) loosely joined to make long, tangled chains. These chains of molecules can be pulled apart and untangled and put back together if you release them, which is what makes rubber elastic.

Synthetic Rubber

Synthetic rubbers are made in chemical plants using petrochemicals. One of the first and best-known petrochemicals is neoprene. Neoprene is made by reacting together acetylene and hydrochloric acid.

Emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber, another synthetic rubber, is also widely used for making rubber, specifically vehicle tires.

How is Rubber Made?

Rubber made from rubber trees using a traditional process called rubber tapping, involves making a wide, V-shaped cut in the tree’s bark. As the latex drips out, it’s collected in a cup and the latex from many trees is then filtered, washed, and reacted with acid to make the particles of rubber coagulate. The rubber then makes its way into pressed slabs or sheets where it is then dried and ready for the next stages of production.

Unprocessed rubber, itself, is not useful. Unprocessed, it is brittle when cold and smelly and sticky when it warms up. Further processing is required to create a much more versatile material.

The first of which is known as mastication. Mastication machines “chew up” raw rubber using mechanical rollers and presses to make it softer and easier to work with. After the rubber has been masticated, extra chemical ingredients are mixed in to improve its properties. Then, the rubber is squashed into shape by rollers in a process called calendaring or squeezed through shaped holes to make hollow tubes in a process called extrusion. Lastly, the rubber is vulcanized (cooked) with sulfur and heated to 140°C (280°F).

Rubber Applications

Rubber is used in diverse ways in everyday items. With its strong, stretch, flexible, durable, and waterproof properties, you can find it in waterproof clothes and wellington boots, sticking plasters, and adhesives. You can also find it in vehicle tires for wheels of cars, bicycles and trucks.

In fact, rubber can be made either soft or hard to make everyday things from pencil erasers, birthday balloons, condoms, protective gloves, and paints. Harder materials are needed for tougher rubber applications such as roofing membranes, waterproof butyl liners in garden ponds and inflatable boats used by scuba divers. It’s strong flexible property also lends itself ideal for electrical cables, fiber-optic cables, and heat pipes.

Partner with Real Seal

Real Seal manufactures and distributes seal products and mechanical components with a strong focus on performance oriented rubber and plastic materials. We are a full-service supplier of sealing and mechanical components, operating in hundreds of industries both nationally and internationally.

Technology continues to expand and create the impossible to possible. Today, the potential of 3D printing is astounding. With a global technology spend to increase from $11 billion in 2015 to nearly $27 billion in 2019, the innovation of 3D printing is only in its infant stages.

The technology may not be talked about in mainstream media as much as it was a couple years ago, but it has undergone some significant changes and developments. Today, 3D printing plays a vital role in creating prototypes for use in the aerospace, automotive, engineering, and medical sectors.

3D printing has been described as a valuable part of every stage in the product development process, but has yet to make a break through here. But in the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, 3D printing shined bright.

What’s Trending in 3D Printing for 2017

Here’s a fun fact: Two-thirds of industrial manufacturing firms are already using 3D printing in their day-to-day operations. As it continues to evolve and emerge into each sector, it is evident that 3D printing is here to stay. Here are the trends that are emerging this year:

Better Software

For design and manufacturing to be more efficient, better software is needed to create the 3D object to be printed. But software alone does not suffice. Software and hardware need to work together to successfully create 3D printing and what the sector needs is one package for both subtractive and additive manufacturing.

One such product is Netfabb, a single portfolio that combines multiple manufacturing applications into one package. It uses a new file extension, 3MF, which has extensions for machine properties, lattice structures and more.

Smaller Products

3D printing doesn’t only produce large parts. While most of what we’ve seen are manufactured in big parts, it is evident that there is a need for the creation of small and compact parts. This is particularly true in medical and dental sectors, where 3D printing can produce millions of hearing aids, dental appliances or aligners and crowns.

The only setback here is pricing and costs. Small 3D parts are expensive to manufacture; however, this will change when more companies begin to adopt the use of technology to create their own prototypes and products, helping to regulate pricing.

Wider Applications

From prototypes to production, 3D printing is making a shift from small-run prototypes to end-use production parts. As the number of advancements around the technology develops, research and production teams are evaluating the feasibility of evolving their 3D application from prototypes to production.

One such advancement is in materials. Several resins and metal powders meet industrial requirements while delivering the part quality and production cost effectiveness needed to keep 3D printing competitive in the market. As we head into 2018, improvements in material availability and cost, continued 3D printer technology developments and more experience in design applications will all contribute to the wider application of 3D printing.

Partner with Real Seal

To help you identify the best materials to source for your 3D printing business, contact Real Seal to create a customized solution and value for your business.

Real Seal manufactures and distributes seal products and mechanical components with a strong focus on performance oriented rubber and plastic materials. We are a full-service supplier of sealing and mechanical components, operating in hundreds of industries both nationally and internationally.