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.
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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.
