Natural rubber

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"Rubber" redirects here. For other uses, see Rubber (disambiguation).
This article is about the polymeric material natural rubber. For man-made rubber
materials, see Synthetic rubber.

Latex being collected from a tapped rubber tree

Natural rubber is an elastomer (an elastic hydrocarbon polymer) that was originally
derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The
purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced
synthetically. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, as is
synthetic rubber.
Contents
[hide]

• 1 Varieties
• 2 Discovery of commercial potential
• 3 Properties
• 4 Solvents
• 5 Chemical makeup
o 5.1 Elasticity
• 6 Current sources
o 6.1 Cultivation
o 6.2 Collection
• 7 Uses
o 7.1 Pre-historical uses
o 7.2 Manufacturing
o 7.3 Textile applications
• 8 Vulcanization
• 9 Allergic reactions
• 10 See also
• 11 References

• 12 External links

[edit] Varieties

The major commercial source of natural rubber latex is the Para rubber tree (Hevea
brasiliensis), a member of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. This is largely because it
responds to wounding by producing more latex.

Other plants containing latex include Gutta-Percha (Palaquium gutta),[1] rubber fig (Ficus
elastica), Panama rubber tree (Castilla elastica), spurges (Euphorbia spp.), lettuce,
common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Russian dandelion (Taraxacum kok-saghyz),
Scorzonera (tau-saghyz), and Guayule (Parthenium argentatum). Although these have
not been major sources of rubber, Germany attempted to use some of these during World
War II when it was cut off from rubber supplies[citation needed]. These attempts were later
supplanted by the development of synthetic rubbers. To distinguish the tree-obtained
version of natural rubber from the synthetic version, the term gum rubber is sometimes
used.

[edit] Discovery of commercial potential

Charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber to the

Académie Royale des Sciences of France in 1736.[2] In 1751, he presented a paper by
François Fresneau to the Académie (eventually published in 1755) which described many
of the properties of rubber. This has been referred to as the first scientific paper on
rubber.[2]

The para rubber tree initially grew in South America, and the first European to return to
Portugal from Brazil with samples of water-repellent rubberized cloth so shocked people
that he was brought to court on the charge of witchcraft.[citation needed] When samples of
rubber first arrived in England, it was observed by Joseph Priestley, in 1770, that a piece
of the material was extremely good for obliterating pencil marks on paper, hence the
name rubber.

South America remained the main source of the limited amounts of latex rubber that were
used during much of the 19th century. However in 1876, Henry Wickham gathered
thousands of para rubber tree seeds from Brazil, and these were germinated in Kew
Gardens, UK. The seedlings were then sent to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Indonesia, Singapore
and British Malaya. Malaya (now Malaysia) was later to become the biggest producer of
rubber. About 100 years ago, the Congo Free State in Africa was also a significant source
of natural rubber latex, mostly gathered by forced labour. Liberia and Nigeria also started
production of rubber.

In India, commercial cultivation of natural rubber was introduced by the British Planters,
although the experimental efforts to grow rubber on a commercial scale in India were
initiated as early as 1873 at the Botanical Gardens, Kolkata. The first commercial Hevea
plantations in India were established at Thattekadu in Kerala in 1902.

[edit] Properties

Rubber latex

Rubber exhibits unique physical and chemical properties. Rubber's stress-strain behavior
exhibits the Mullins effect, the Payne effect, and is often modeled as hyperelastic. Rubber
strain crystallizes.

Owing to the presence of a double bond in each repeat unit, natural rubber is sensitive to
ozone cracking.
[edit] Solvents

There are two main solvents for rubber: turpentine and naphtha (petroleum). The former
has been in use since 1763 when François Fresnau made the discovery. Giovanni
Fabronni is credited with the discovery of naphtha as a rubber solvent in 1779. Because
rubber does not dissolve easily, the material is finely divided by shredding prior to its
immersion.

An ammonia solution can be used to prevent the coagulation of raw latex while it is being
transported from its collection site.

[edit] Chemical makeup

Latex is a natural polymer of isoprene (most often cis-1,4-polyisoprene) - with a

molecular weight of 100,000 to 1,000,000. Typically, a small percent (up to 5% of dry
mass) of other materials, such as proteins, fatty acids, resins and inorganic materials
(salts) are found in natural rubber. Polyisoprene is also created synthetically, producing
what is sometimes referred to as "synthetic natural rubber".

Some natural rubber sources called gutta percha are composed of trans-1,4-polyisoprene,
a structural isomer which has similar, but not identical, properties.

Natural rubber is an elastomer and a thermoplastic. However, it should be noted that as

the rubber is vulcanized, it will turn into a thermoset. Most rubber in everyday use is
vulcanized to a point where it shares properties of both; i.e., if it is heated and cooled, it is
degraded but not destroyed.

[edit] Elasticity

In most elastic materials, such as metals used in springs, the elastic behavior is caused by
bond distortions. When force is applied, bond lengths deviate from the (minimum energy)
equilibrium and strain energy is stored electrostatically. Rubber is often assumed to
behave in the same way, but it turns out this is a poor description. Rubber is a curious
material because, unlike metals, strain energy is stored thermally. Also, natural rubber is
so elastic that when force is applied, on natural rubber when it is on a surface similar to
carpet, it may be difficult to 'pull' across the surface. It will stick.

In its relaxed state, rubber consists of long, coiled-up polymer chains that are interlinked
at a few points. Between a pair of links, each monomer can rotate freely about its
neighbour, thus giving each section of chain leeway to assume a large number of
geometries, like a very loose rope attached to a pair of fixed points. At room temperature,
rubber stores enough kinetic energy so that each section of chain oscillates chaotically,
like the above piece of rope being shaken violently. The entropy model of rubber was
developed in 1934 by Werner Kuhn.
When rubber is stretched, the "loose pieces of rope" are taut and thus no longer able to
oscillate. Their kinetic energy is given off as excess heat. Therefore, the entropy
decreases when going from the relaxed to the stretched state, and it increases during
relaxation. This change in entropy can also be explained by the fact that a tight section of
chain can fold in fewer ways (W) than a loose section of chain, at a given temperature
(nb. entropy is defined as S=k*ln(W)). Relaxation of a stretched rubber band is thus
driven by an increase in entropy, and the force experienced is not electrostatic, rather it is
a result of the thermal energy of the material being converted to kinetic energy. Rubber
relaxation is endothermic, and for this reason the force exerted by a stretched piece of
rubber increases with temperature (Metals, for example, become softer as temperature
increases). The material undergoes adiabatic cooling during contraction. This property of
rubber can easily be verified by holding a stretched rubber band to your lips and relaxing
it. Stretching of a rubber band is in some ways equivalent to the compression of an ideal
gas, and relaxation is equivalent to its expansion. Note that a compressed gas also
exhibits "elastic" properties, for instance inside an inflated car tire. The fact that
stretching is equivalent to compression may seem somewhat counter-intuitive, but it
makes sense if rubber is viewed as a one-dimensional gas. Stretching reduces the "space"
available to each section of chain.

Vulcanization of rubber creates more disulfide bonds between chains, so it shortens each
free section of chain. The result is that the chains tighten more quickly for a given length
of strain, thereby increasing the elastic force constant and making rubber harder and less
extendable.

When cooled below the glass transition temperature, the quasi-fluid chain segments
"freeze" into fixed geometries and the rubber abruptly loses its elastic properties,
although the process is reversible. This is a property it shares with most elastomers. At
very cold temperatures, rubber is actually rather brittle; it will break into shards when
struck or stretched. This critical temperature is the reason that winter tires use a softer
version of rubber than normal tires. The failing rubber o-ring seals that contributed to the
cause of the Challenger disaster were thought to have cooled below their critical
temperature. The disaster happened on an unusually cold day.

[edit] Current sources

Close to 21 million tons of rubber were produced in 2005 of which around 42% was
natural. Since the bulk of the rubber produced is the synthetic variety which is derived
from petroleum, the price of even natural rubber is determined to a very large extent by
the prevailing global price of crude oil.[citation needed] Today Asia is the main source of
natural rubber, accounting for around 94% of output in 2005. The three largest producing
countries (Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) together account for around 72% of all
natural rubber production.

[edit] Cultivation
Rubber is generally cultivated in large plantations. See the coconut shell used in
collecting latex, in plantations in Kerala, India

Rubber latex is extracted from Rubber trees. The economic life period of rubber trees in
plantations is around 32 years – up to 7 years of immature phase and about 25 years of
productive phase.

The soil requirement of the plant is generally well-drained weathered soil consisting of
laterite, lateritic types, sedimentary types, nonlateritic red or alluvial soils.

The climatic conditions for optimum growth of Rubber trees consist of (a) Rainfall of
around 250 cm evenly distributed without any marked dry season and with at least 100
rainy days per annum (b) Temperature range of about 20°C to 34°C with a monthly mean
of 25°C to 28°C (c) High atmospheric humidity of around 80% (d) Bright sunshine
amounting to about 2000 hours per annum at the rate of 6 hours per day throughout the
year and (e) Absence of strong winds.

Many high-yielding clones have been developed for commercial planting. These clones
yield more than 2,000 kilograms of dry Rubber per hectare per annum, when grown
under ideal conditions.

[edit] Collection
A woman in Sri Lanka in the process of harvesting rubber

In places like Kerala, where coconuts are in abundance, the half shell of coconut is used
as the collection container for the latex but glazed pottery or aluminium or plastic cups
are more common elsewhere. The cups are supported by a wire that encircles the
tree.This wire incorporates a spring so that it can stretch as the tree grows. The latex is
led into the cup by a galvanised "spout" that has been knocked into the bark. Tapping
normally takes place early in the morning when the internal pressure of the tree is
highest. A good tapper can tap a tree every 20 seconds on a standard half-spiral system
and a common daily "task" size is between 450 and 650 trees. Trees are usually tapped
alternate or third daily although there are many variations in timing, length and number
of cuts. The latex, which contains 25 - 40% dry rubber, is in the bark so the tapper must
avoid cutting right through to the wood or the growing cambial layer will be damaged
and the renewing bark will be badly deformed making later tapping difficult. It is usual to
tap a pannel at least twice, sometimes three times, during the trees' life. The economic life
of the tree depends on how well the tapping is carried out as the critical factor is bark
consumption. A standard in Malaysia for alternate daily tapping is 25 cm (vertical) bark
consumption per annum. The latex tubes in the bark ascend in a spiral to the right. For
this reason, tapping cuts usually ascend to the left to cut more tubes.

The trees will drip latex for about four hours, stopping as latex coagulates naturally on
the tapping cut thus blocking the latex tubes in the bark. Tappers usually rest and have a
meal after finishing their tapping work then start collecting the latex at about midday.
Some trees will continue to drip after the collection and this leads to a small amount of
cup lump which is collected at the next tapping. The latex that coagulates on the cut is
also collected as tree lace. Tree lace and cup lump together account for 10 - 20% of the
dry rubber produced.

The latex will coagulate in cup if kept for long. The latex has to be collected before
coagulation. The collected latex is transffered in to coagulation tanks for the preparation
of dry rubber or transferred into air tight containers with sieving for ammoniation.
Ammoniation is necessary to preserve the latex in colloidal state for long.

Latex is generally processed into either latex concentrate for manufacture of dipped
goods or it can be coagulated under controlled, clean conditions using formic acid. The
coagulated latex can then be processed into the higher grade technically specified block
rubbers such as TSR3L or TSRCV or used to produce Ribbed Smoke Sheet grades.

Naturally coagulated rubber (cup lump) is used in the manufacture of TSR10 and TSR20
grade rubbers. The processing of the rubber for these grades is basically a size reduction
and cleaning process in order to remove contamination and prepare the material for the
final stage drying.

The dried material is then baled and palletized for shipment.

[edit] Uses

Compression molded (cured) rubber boots before the flashes are removed

The use of rubber is widespread, ranging from household to industrial products, entering
the production stream at the intermediate stage or as final products. Tires and tubes are
the largest consumers of rubber. The remaining 44% are taken up by the general rubber
goods (GRG) sector, which includes all products except tires and tubes.

[edit] Pre-historical uses

The first use of rubber was natural latex from the Hevea Tree in 1600 BC by the Ancient
Mayans.[citation needed] They boiled the harvested latex to make a ball for sport.[citation needed]

[edit] Manufacturing

Other significant uses of rubber are door and window profiles, hoses, belts, matting,
flooring and dampeners (anti-vibration mounts) for the automotive industry in what is
known as the "under the bonnet" products. Gloves (medical, household and industrial)
and toy balloons are also large consumers of rubber, although the type of rubber used is
that of the concentrated latex. Significant tonnage of rubber is used as adhesives in many
manufacturing industries and products, although the two most noticeable are the paper
and the carpet industry. Rubber is also commonly used to make rubber bands and pencil
erasers.

[edit] Textile applications

Additionally, rubber produced as a fiber sometimes called elastic, has significant value
for use in the textile industry because of its excellent elongation and recovery properties.
For these purposes, manufactured rubber fiber is made as either an extruded round fiber
or rectangular fibers that are cut into strips from extruded film. Because of its low dye
acceptance, feel and appearance, the rubber fiber is either covered by yarn of another
fiber or directly woven with other yarns into the fabric. In the early 1900s, for example,
rubber yarns were used in foundation garments. While rubber is still used in textile
manufacturing, its low tenacity limits its use in lightweight garments because latex lacks
resistance to oxidizing agents and is damaged by aging, sunlight, oil, and perspiration.
Seeking a way to address these shortcomings, the textile industry has turned to Neoprene
(polymer form of Chloroprene), a type of synthetic rubber as well as another more
commonly used elastomer fiber, spandex (also known as elastane), because of their
superiority to rubber in both strength and durability.

[edit] Vulcanization
Main article: Vulcanization

Natural rubber is often vulcanized, a process by which the rubber is heated and sulfur,
peroxide or bisphenol are added to improve resilience and elasticity, and to prevent it
from perishing. Vulcanization greatly improved the durability and utility of rubber from
the 1830s on.[citation needed] The development of vulcanization is most closely associated with
Charles Goodyear in 1839.[3] Carbon black is often used as an additive to rubber to
improve its strength, especially in vehicle tires.

[edit] Allergic reactions

Main article: Latex allergy

Some people have a serious latex allergy, and exposure to certain natural rubber latex
products such as latex gloves can cause anaphylactic shock. Guayule latex is
hypoallergenic and is being researched as a substitute to the allergy-inducing Hevea
latexes. Unlike the sappable Hevea tree, these relatively small shrubs must be harvested
whole and latex extracted from each cell. Chemical processes may also be employed to
reduce the amount of antigenic protein in Hevea latex, resulting in alternative Hevea-
based materials such Vytex Natural Rubber Latex that, while not completely
hypoallergenic, do provide lessened exposure to latex allergens.
Some allergic reactions are not from the latex but from residues of other ingredients used
to process the latex into clothing, gloves, foam, etc. These allergies are usually referred to
as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).

[edit] See also

• Akron, Ohio, center of the rubber industry

• Charles Greville Williams, researched natural rubber being a polymer of the
monomer isoprene
• Elastomer
• Emulsion dispersion
• Fordlândia, failed attempt to establish a rubber plantation in Brazil
• Guayule, a useful, non-allergenic alternate source for Hevea derived natural
rubber, native to North America
• Ozone cracking
• Rubber seed oil
• Resilin, a rubber substitute
• Rubber tapping, the process of harvesting the rubber sap
• Rubber technology
• Stevenson Plan, historical British plan to stabilize rubber prices
• Latex, the main raw material for rubber

[edit] References

1. ^ Burns, Bill. "The Gutta Percha Company". History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea
Communications. http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Article/GuttaPercha/. Retrieved 2009-
02-14.
2. ^ a b Untitled Document
3. ^ Slack, Charles. "Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race
to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century". Hyperion 2002.
[ISBN 9780786867899]

• Rubbery Materials and their Compounds by J.A Brydson

• Rubber Technology by Maurice Morton

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Technical Review Vol.41 No.1 (Feb. 2004)
1
Development of Smar t
Polymer Materials and its
Various Applications
1. Introduction
Polymer materials are applied in various forms in our
products such as air conditioning and refrigeration equipments,
aircrafts, etc., and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,
Ltd. (MHI) is engaged in product improvement also in terms
of materials. We developed the shape memory polymers
and the chain curing polymers, which are the unique and
smart materials. And they are expected to be used more
widely in various application fields than the field they were
initially developed for.
.
2-3 Expansion of application
By making an effective use of the polymer's function as
a temperature sensor, a mechanism was developed to carry
out automatic choking in cold season, and was applied to
the small-size engines. Further, the polymer was adopted
for the handgrips of spoon, toothbrush, razor and kitchen
knife by making use of its function of having the shape
freely changeable, and then keeping the shape intact.
By making use of its property of getting soft at body
temperature and outstanding tactile feature, the polymer
has come to be applied in medical field as the self-retaining
needle for drip (instillation), catheter, etc. By making
use of the temperature change of water vapor permeation,
epochal clothing have been successfully developed which
keep you warm in cold season and cool in hot season.
Study is now under way to apply the FRP (fiber reinforced
plastics) where the SMP is used as matrix resin to
the inflatable structure in space. This program aims at
compact folding of the FRP molded to final shape to transport
to the space before expanding it to the original shape
in space (Fig. 2). Further, porous foam with similar function
is also under development (Fig. 3).
filler solution
Thermal cation curing
Future Developments of Man-made Fibres
D. Entwistle1
1
Courtaulds Ltd, Coventry

ABSTRACT
The growing domination of the whole textile scene by man-made fibres is discussed. There
is an industrial and commercial problem of introducing on a large scale a radically new fibre
of broadly based textile utility. This is discussed in relation to the great versatility and
potential of the existing range of man-made fibres. The significance of the increasing
integration of the whole textile industry, from the fibre maker to the garment maker, is
discussed and, finally, the new and interesting fibrous structures being introduced are
described.

Development of Plastics
The first important plastic, celluloid, was discovered (c.1869) by the American
inventor John W. Hyatt and manufactured by him in 1872; it is a mixture of cellulose
nitrate, camphor, and alcohol and is thermoplastic. However, plastics did not come
into modern industrial use until after the production (1909) of Bakelite by the
American chemist L. H. Baekeland. Bakelite, made by the polymerization of phenol
and formaldehyde, is thermosetting. New uses for plastics are continually being
discovered. Following World War II optical lenses, artificial eyes, and dentures of
acrylic plastics, splints that X rays may pierce, nylon fibers, machine gears, fabric
coatings, wall surfacing, and plastic lamination were developed. More recently a
hydrophilic, or water-attracting, plastic suitable for use in non-irritating contact
lenses has been developed. Among the trade names by which many plastic
products are widely known are Plexiglas, Lucite, Polaroid, Cellophane, Vinylite, and
Koroseal. Plastics reinforced with fiberglass are used for boats, automobile bodies,
furniture, and building panels.

plastic
plastic, any organic material with the ability to flow into a desired shape when heat
and pressure are applied to it and to retain the shape when they are withdrawn.

Composition and Types of Plastic

A plastic is made up principally of a binder together with plasticizers, fillers,
pigments, and other additives. The binder gives a plastic its main characteristics
and usually its name. Thus, polyvinyl chloride is both the name of a binder and the
name of a plastic into which it is made. Binders may be natural materials, e.g.,
cellulose derivatives, casein, or milk protein, but are more commonly synthetic
resins. In either case, the binder materials consist of very long chainlike molecules
called polymers. Cellulose derivatives are made from cellulose, a naturally occurring
polymer; casein is also a naturally occurring polymer. Synthetic resins are
polymerized, or built up, from small simple molecules called monomers. Plasticizers
are added to a binder to increase flexibility and toughness. Fillers are added to
improve particular properties, e.g., hardness or resistance to shock. Pigments are
used to impart various colors. Virtually any desired color or shape and many
combinations of the properties of hardness, durability, elasticity, and resistance to
heat, cold, and acid can be obtained in a plastic.

There are two basic types of plastic: thermosetting, which cannot be resoftened
after being subjected to heat and pressure; and thermoplastic, which can be
repeatedly softened and remolded by heat and pressure. When heat and pressure
are applied to a thermoplastic binder, the chainlike polymers slide past each other,
giving the material “plasticity.” However, when heat and pressure are initially applied
to a thermosetting binder, the molecular chains become cross-linked, thus
preventing any slippage if heat and pressure are reapplied.
See epoxy resins; polyacrylics; polycarbonates; polyethylene; polyolefins;
polypropylene; polystyrene; polyurethanes; polyvinyl chloride; vinyl plastics.

Environmental Considerations
Plastics are so durable that they will not rot or decay as do natural products such as
those made of wood. As a result great amounts of discarded plastic products
accumulate in the environment as waste. It has been suggested that plastics could
be made to decompose slowly when exposed to sunlight by adding certain
chemicals to them. Plastics present the additional problem of being difficult to burn.
When placed in an incinerator, they tend to melt quickly and flow downward,
clogging the incinerator's grate. They also emit harmful fumes; e.g., burning
polyvinyl chloride gives off hydrogen chloride gas.

polyvinyl chloride
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), thermoplastic that is a polymer of vinyl chloride. Resins
of polyvinyl chloride are hard, but with the addition of plasticizers a flexible, elastic
plastic can be made. This plastic has found extensive use as an electrical insulator
for wires and cables. Cloth and paper can be coated with it to produce fabrics that
may be used for upholstery materials and raincoats.
WORKING WITH NATURE

As new applications for polymers were being found, some researchers wondered whether
they could also play a role in the human body, perhaps in repairing or replacing body
tissues and cartilage. The idea was not entirely new. The natural polymer collagen, found
in animal connective tissue, had been used as surgeon's thread for more than 2,500 years.
And as early as the 1860s, an artificial polymer called collodion, invented a decade
earlier by the French chemist Louis Ménard, was used as a liquid dressing for minor
wounds. Collodion, made from a solution of cellulose nitrate in alcohol and ether, formed
a solid film that could be peeled off after the wound healed. The excellent barrier
properties of polymers were also central to an experiment in 1933 by Italian biologist
Vincenzo Bisceglie, who implanted tumor cells encased in a nitrocellulose membrane in
a guinea pig. The cells survived, protected by the membrane against attack by the host
animal's immune cells.

Meanwhile, the question of contending with the body's immune system was becoming a
critical one in medicine. Scientists were beginning to recognize that many diseases of the
heart, liver, and kidney actually involved failures of these organs, and they were initiating
efforts to replace damaged organs with healthy ones. However, the body's immune cells--
which are designed to seek out and destroy any foreign tissue--are unable, for example, to
distinguish between an unwanted bacterial infection and a much-desired transplanted
kidney. Although some early drugs, such as corticosteroids, azathioprine, and 6-
mercaptopurine, helped in combating rejection, the problem began to fade only after
1969, when Swiss microbiologist Jean Borel discovered that a soil fungus, cyclosporin A,
would selectively interfere with the specific immune cells that drive the rejection
reaction. The 1983 approval of cyclosporin A by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) gave transplant surgeons a tool that has since saved the lives of thousands of
patients with heart, liver, or kidney failure.

Rubber – Properties, Development, Tyres, Earthquake

Protection Systems and Recycling
Topics Covered
Background

Rubbers Blend of Properties

History and Development of Rubber

Rubber and Tyres

Recycling of Tyres

Rubber in Earthquake Protection Systems for Bridges and Buildings

Summary

Background
With its distinctive tactility and unique smell, rubber is a veritable feast for the senses,
providing idiosyncrasy and the potential for design ingenuity in equal measures. Its
influence ranges from the practical to the aesthetic, the functional to the fun, and it is
finding increasing application in projects characterised by their environmentally-sound
objectives, a move that is placing the material at the forefront of contemporary eco-
friendly design.

Rubbers Blend of Properties

Rubber's physical flexibility seems to be a nod to its amazing versatility. Its durability,
elasticity mouldability and waterproof properties have made rubber the material of choice
for end users ranging from tyre manufacturers and sportswear designers, to Hollywood
special effects creators and fetishists even. Marks and Spencer is in on the rubber scene,
having recently used barasol, a type of rubber, as the basis of its new head office
furniture.
History and Development of Rubber

In terms of the material’s history, natural rubber originally derived from the rubber tree
(hevea brasiliensis) in South America, and it has been used there for thousands of years.
It was only recently that English chemist Joseph Priestly coined the term ‘rubber’ in 1770
upon discovering its erasing capabilities. In the years that followed, while designers could
foresee that rubber’s impressive physical properties could be harnessed in terms of
possible applications, there remained no way to make it viable for manufacturers.

Only in 1839 that Charles Goodyear patented sulphur as a stabilising agent during the
processing of rubber, and vulcanisation was born.

Rubber and Tyres

In addition to rubber bands and rubber ducks, one of the first things we associate with
this material is the humble tyre. Initially invented for tricycles by John Boyd Dunlop in
the late 19th century, tyre manufacturing took off in a major way with the invention of
the motor car, and commercial rubber production has since gone through the roof.
However, in recent years this has caused a major concern for environmental groups.

Recycling of Tyres

But while in its natural state the material is biodegradable, the extensive processing that it
undergoes (tyres use rubber mixed with synthetic substances such as plastics and
chemical curatives to ensure that, when cars reach high speeds, ‘burning rubber’ is a
theoretical description rather than a frightening reality) renders rubber much more
durable, and is therefore a major recycling problem. One group that is currently
attempting to address the threat of endless ‘tyre mountains’ is Earthship, USA. The
organisation uses local reclaimed materials to construct environmentally friendly housing
that does not use fossil fuels and is completely self-sustainable. Earth-rammed tyres are
used for the foundations of the housing’s walls, and are then consolidated with straw bale
and finally rigid insulation to stabilise the comfort of the interior space. Another
company, Remarkable, UK, is adopting a similar attitude to reuse, albeit on a slightly
smaller scale. Everything it designs and manufactures from stationery to handbags,
comes from identifiable recycled or sustainable resources. The company transforms
rubber tyres from having a purely practical original existence to playing an integral part
in the aesthetic appeal of a product.

Rubber in Earthquake Protection Systems for Bridges and

Buildings

Dynamic Isolation Systems (DIS), USA, while not overtly marketing itself as motivated
by altruistic environmental concerns, is nonetheless making great use of synthetic
rubber’s capacity for extreme longevity, and in doing so, is helping to ensure that the
material it uses will not crowd landfill sites in years to come. The company is responsible
for matching earthquake protection systems to the specific needs of individual structures,