With so many common uses, you’d think most people would know a little bit more about rubber. If you don’t, that’s okay, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite quick facts about the industry just for you!
Rubber is used in more products than you may even realize. Aside from tires, there are also gloves, cookware, shoes, hoses, floor mats, and much, much more. Here at American Phoenix, we are pretty passionate about the stuff and love to share what we know. Here are a few facts about the rubber industry that may just surprise you.
Rubber Grows in Trees
Hevea brasiliensis (otherwise known as the Pará rubber tree) is a flowering plant native to South America that is the primary source of natural rubber. Similar to the process of gathering maple sap, the bark of these trees produces latex which can be collected through tapping.
Supply is Based on Plant Growth Cycle
After a rubber tree is first planted, it can take approximately five to six years for it to begin producing latex, and up to ten to reach a consistently high level. While the tree may be able to continue producing latex for up to thirty years, it is important to remember that the supply of natural rubber materials is, in fact, left mostly up to nature.
Higher Demand for Natural Rubber
Aside from tires, natural rubber is often preferred over synthetic due to its higher quality. Industrial Rubber Goods notes that “natural rubber is the preferred choice when making surgical gloves and drapes, contraceptives, shoe soles, nipples on baby bottles, rubber bands, [and] even carpet backing.”
Multi-Step Process
During manufacturing, rubber goes through an extensive process that turns it from its natural sticky and brittle form to be much more durable and useful. The main steps include masticating (being pressed by mechanical rollers), mixing in additional chemicals, calendaring (squishing into shape) or extrusion (squeezed through specially-shaped holes), and vulcanization (cooking with added sulfur).
Rubber can be Recycled
As a more eco-friendly solution to discarding material scaps, old rubber products (such as tires) can be recycled and reclaimed for new purposes. One popular use involves creating low-impact flooring for hospital floors, playgrounds, and athletic fields.
Did you learn something new today? We hope so! If you’d like to learn even more in-depth facts about the rubber industry, check out our careers page to join our knowledgeable team.
10 Facts about Natural Rubber
We have previously reported about various elastomeric materials and their properties as well as the applications they can be used for in the field of mechanical engineering. This article is in reference to the raw material natural rubber or caoutchouc. For example, did you know that its natural color is white? Or how many tons are produced and processed every year? Everybody knows caoutchouc, but very few are familiar with its properties and for which applications it can be used. Here are 10 facts about natural rubber you may have not heard about before.
In 1495 Christopher Columbus was the first white human who watched Indians in Haiti play with an elastic ball. But it was many years later that Charles Marie de la Condamine brought natural rubber to Europe from an expedition to Peru and Ecuador.
- Natural rubber originally comes from the South American tree ‘Hevea Brasiliensis’ which belongs to the euphorbia family. These trees reach a height of 15 to 30 meters and have a trunk diameter of up to one meter.
- The natural color of caoutchouc is white and the name is derived from the Indian words ‘cao’ and ‘ocho’, which means “the drops of a tree“.
- Some people are allergic to this natural material. For this reason, the protein components that can cause such an allergy are frequently filtered out during industrial processing.
- ’Black carbon’, a reinforcing filler, is what makes car tires black. The more intensely the filler is linked with the natural rubber, the higher the strength of the rubber.
- No natural rubber – no newspaper. Rubber-coated rollers render this possible. We have also become dependent on natural rubber in the textile and food industry.
- In 1830 the worldwide consumption of natural rubber amounted to 150 tons. In 1856 this had already increased fiftyfold and tallied about 7,000 tons approximately.
- Nowadays, almost 23 million tons of natural rubber are produced and processed worldwide. About 60 % of that amount is synthetic rubber.
- Synthetic rubber is mainly produced from the raw material petroleum, but researchers have begun exploring the use of alternative and sustainable raw materials with, for instance, rapeseed oil and the sap of dandelions.
- The first rubber factory was founded near Paris in 1803. At that time, they mainly produced suspenders and garters.
Of course, there is much more that can be learned about the renewable raw material ‘natural rubber’. It has a long history and has already been used in the past for versatile applications. Today, this raw material has become an indispensable part of our daily life. In coupling production, natural rubber is suitable for use to only a limited extent. Though it is highly elastic, it is not appropriate for most applications on account of its poor resistance to temperatures. Nevertheless, it has many other applications in the field of mechanical engineering, such as conveyors, drive pulleys, machine bearings and diaphragms.
Source
Phactual.com