RUBBER

REPORTED BY : ARVIN LOUI DF. BASCON

ALBERT V. FIEL
ALBERT DAIRO
HISTORY OF RUBBER
The first use of rubber was by the indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica. The earliest archeological evidence of the use of natural latex from the Hevea tree comes the Olmec
culture, in which rubber was first used for making balls for the Mesoamerican ballgame. Rubber was later used by the Maya and Aztec cultures - in addition to making balls Aztecs
used rubber for other purposes such as making containers and to make textiles waterproof by impregnating them with the latex sap.[6][7]

The Par rubber tree is indigenous to South America. Charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber to the Acadmie Royale des Sciences of
France in 1736.[8] In 1751, he presented a paper by Franois Fresneau to the Acadmie (published in 1755) that described many of rubber's properties. This has been referred to
as the first scientific paper on rubber.[8] In England, Joseph Priestley, in 1770, observed that a piece of the material was extremely good for rubbing off pencil marks on paper,
hence the name "rubber". It slowly made its way around England. In 1764 Franois Fresnau discovered that turpentine was a rubber solvent. Giovanni Fabbroni is credited with
the discovery of naphtha as a rubber solvent in 1779.

South America remained the main source of the limited amounts of latex rubber used during much of the 19th century. The trade was heavily protected and exporting seeds from
Brazil was a capital offense, although no law prohibited it. Nevertheless, in 1876, Henry Wickham smuggled 70,000 Par rubber tree seeds from Brazil and delivered them to Kew
Gardens, England. Only 2,400 of these germinated. Seedlings were then sent to India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Indonesia, Singapore, and British Malaya. Malaya (now Peninsular
Malaysia) was later to become the biggest producer of rubber. In the early 1900s, the Congo Free State in Africa was also a significant source of natural rubber latex, mostly
gathered by forced labor. Liberia and Nigeria started production.

In India, commercial cultivation was introduced by British planters, although the experimental efforts to grow rubber on a commercial scale were initiated as early as 1873 at the
Calcutta Botanical Gardens. The first commercial Hevea plantations were established at Thattekadu in Kerala in 1902. In later years the plantation expanded to Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. India today is the world's 3rd largest producer and 4th largest consumer.[9]

In Singapore and Malaya, commercial production was heavily promoted by Sir Henry Nicholas Ridley, who served as the first Scientific Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens
from 1888 to 1911. He distributed rubber seeds to many planters and developed the first technique for tapping trees for latex without causing serious harm to the tree.[10]
Because of his fervent promotion of this crop, he is popularly remembered by the nickname "Mad Ridley".[11]
 Charles Goodyear developed vulcanization in 1839, although Mesoamericans used stabilized rubber for balls and other objects as
early as 1600 BC.[12][13]

Before World War II significant uses included door and window profiles, hoses, belts, gaskets, matting, flooring and dampeners
(antivibration mounts) for the automotive industry. The use of rubber in car tires (initially solid rather than pneumatic) in particular
consumed a significant amount of rubber. Gloves (medical, household and industrial) and toy balloons were large consumers of
rubber, although the type of rubber used is concentrated latex. Significant tonnage of rubber was used as adhesives in many
manufacturing industries and products, although the two most noticeable were the paper and the carpet industries. Rubber was
commonly used to make rubber bands and pencil erasers.

Rubber produced as a fiber, sometimes called 'elastic', had significant value to the textile industry because of its excellent
elongation and recovery properties. For these purposes, manufactured rubber fiber was made as either an extruded round fiber or
rectangular fibers cut into strips from extruded film. Because of its low dye acceptance, feel and appearance, the rubber fiber was
either covered by yarn of another fiber or directly woven with other yarns into the fabric. 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. The textile industry turned to neoprene
(polymer 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.
Properties of Rubber
Rubber exhibits unique physical and chemical properties. Rubber's stressstrain behavior exhibits
the Mullins effect and the Payne effect and is often modeled as hyperelastic. Rubber strain
crystallizes.

Due to the presence of a double bond in each repeat unit, natural rubber is susceptible to
vulcanisation and sensitive to ozone cracking.

The two main solvents for rubber are turpentine and naphtha (petroleum). 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.

Rubber begins to melt at approximately 180 C (356 F).

Types of Rubber
Neoprene Rubber - Good weatherability and resistance to abrasion.
Buna-N Rubber - Resists oil and solvents. Not as weather resistant. Also called nitrile,
acrylonitrile, and NBR.
Silicone Rubber - Good flexibility and resistance to ozone, sunlight, and oxidation. Very good
electrical insulator. Also called polysiloxane.
EPDM Rubber - Excellent for outdoor use.
Natural Gum Rubber - Superior resilience, tensile strength, elasticity, and abrasion resistance.
Viton Rubber - Resists corrosive environments, with exceptional resistance to heat, aging,
weather, ozone, oxygen, and sunlight, plus fuels, solvents, and chemicals. Good flame resistance.
Also called FKM.
Natural Latex Rubber - Ultra-elastic has excellent strength and stretchability. Has exceptional tear
resistance.
 Natural Latex Rubber - Ultra-elastic has excellent strength and stretchability. Has exceptional tear resistance.
SBR Rubber - Has good abrasion and wear resistance. Also called styrene butadiene.
Vinyl Rubber - Good resistance to water, chemicals, and weathering. Also called polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
Santoprene Rubber - Combines the characteristics of rubber and plastic to produce a material that offers
excellent weatherability and chemical resistance.
ECH Rubber - Excellent resistance to fuel, oil, and ozone. Also called epichlorohydrin.
Butyl Rubber - Nearly air and gas tight. Has good weatherability, oxidation resistance, and electrical
resistance. Excellent resistance to alkalies and acids. Often used for inner tubes. Also called isobutylene
isoprene.
Latex-Free TPE Rubber - Transparent elastomer with gel-like consistency to absorb vibration and conform to
irregular surfaces. Super stretchy. Has great tensile strength. This type of rubber is nontoxic and
nonallergenic.
Hypalon Rubber - Superior weatherability and resistance to ozone, chemicals, and oil even at high
temperatures. Resists flex cracking and abrasion from weather, heat, and chemical exposure. Low water
absorption. Also called chlorosulfonated polyethylene.
Rubber Processing and Products
Many of the production methods used for plastics are
also applicable to rubbers
However, rubber processing technology is different in
certain respects, and the rubber industry is largely
separate from the plastics industry
The rubber industry and goods made of rubber are
dominated by one product: tires
Tires are used in large numbers on automobiles,
trucks, aircraft, and bicycles
Rubber Processing and Shaping
Production of rubber goods consists of two basic
steps:
1. Production of the rubber itself
2. Natural rubber is an agricultural crop
Synthetic rubbers are made from petroleum
2. Processing into finished goods, consisting of:
(a) Compounding
(b) Mixing
(c) Shaping
(d) Vulcanizing
REFERENCE