What is Synthetic Rubber?
Synthetic Rubber is a type of rubber that has been created in a lab. It was first used in the production of tires and other products in the late 1920s. While it is not as durable as natural rubber, it does have some benefits over natural rubber. For example, it can be produced more cheaply than natural rubber and it can be made to have different properties depending on what you are using it for.
Synthetic Rubber is usually made from synthetic polymers such as styrene-butadiene (SBR) or polychloroprene (CR).
What are the Chemical Types in Synthetic Rubber?
Synthetic rubber is a polymer, which is created by the chemical reaction of two or more different substances.
The most common types of synthetic rubber are:
- Polybutadiene rubber (BR)
- Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)
- Butyl rubber
- Chloroprene Rubber (CR).
What Led to the Development of Synthetic Rubber?
The first synthetic rubber was developed in 1839 by a British scientist, but it was not until World War II that synthetic rubber became a major factor in the economy. During the war, natural rubber from Southeast Asia became scarce because of shortages and the need to supply tires for military vehicles.
In 1941, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company began working on a synthetic rubber formula. It was created by combining petroleum with natural latex to produce an artificial product that could be used to manufacture tires. This new synthetic material had many advantages over natural rubber: it did not require large amounts of land or labor to produce; it could be produced in any country; and it could be made into any desired shape or size.
How is Synthetic Rubber Produced?
Synthetic rubber is produced by a process called polymerization. In this process, the raw materials are heated and mixed together in a reactor.
The raw materials are mostly made up of polymers which are long molecules that can be joined together to form large molecules. These polymers can be made from natural substances like petroleum or from synthetic substances such as butadiene and styrene.
The heat causes the polymers to react with one another and form long chains of molecules which then become solid. These chains of molecules are known as polymers, and they will have different properties depending on what kind of polymers they are made up of.
IS NATURAL RUBBER MORE EXPENSIVE THAN SYNTHETIC?
Natural rubber is sometimes more expensive than synthetic rubber, but not always. The cost depends on a number of factors.
Trees produce natural rubber. Plantations that plant more trees one year may produce more natural rubber eight years later. One plantation may have a bad crop year, causing a shortage of natural rubber that won’t be felt for years. In the industry, natural rubber is the only raw material that can be traded in the futures market since many different sources make the same or similar products from natural rubber.
Natural and synthetic rubber products are also vulnerable to demand-side factors, including how many manufacturers and distributors are interested in purchasing rubber products in a given year. This is especially true in the automotive industry. For example, if more cars are made, more rubber will be needed to make tires.
The price of natural rubber is often unstable due to a number of factors, including the volatility of the material. According to some sources, synthetic rubber is more reliably less expensive, but in our experience, prices are not stable enough to declare one type to be a better deal than another. A combination of natural rubber and synthetic rubber is used in many products and applications, and the ratio of each can be changed relatively easily. Synthetic prices are kept competitive with natural rubber prices in some cases.
What are the pros and cons of synthetic rubber?
Synthetic rubbers are a type of material used in many different industries from personal care to automotive. Synthetic rubbers have many advantages over natural rubbers such as being cheaper, more durable, longer-lasting, less toxic to the environment, less expensive to produce but they also come with disadvantages such as being less elastic and having a shorter lifespan.