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NATURAL RUBBER: PROPERTIES AND USES

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Smit Patel
NATURAL RUBBER: PROPERTIES AND USES

Physical properties

• At low temperatures, it becomes rigid, and when it freezes in an extended state it acquires a fibrous structure.

• When heated to more than 100 ºC, it softens and undergoes permanent alterations.

• Raw rubber acquires great permanent deformation due to its plastic nature.

• The plasticity of rubber varies from one tree to another and also depends on the amount of work the finger has put on the rubber from the latex state, on the bacteria that accompany it and influence its oxidation, and on other factors. The plasticity can be modified within certain limits by the action of chemical products.

• The density of rubber at 0 ºC. Is 0.950 at 20ºC. Is 0.934. The raw rubber thawed after chewing by cold rolls does not vary in density.

• When raw rubber has been stretched and deformed for some time, it does not fully return to its original state.

• If heated, recovery is greater than at ordinary temperature. This phenomenon is called residual deformation or permanent stretching and is typical of rubber.

• Raw rubber absorbs water. The coagulants used in the latex when preparing the rubber affect the degree of water absorption; using hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid or alum, rubbers with relatively high absorption power are obtained. The water absorption power of purified rubber is very low.

• A wide variety of substances are soluble or can be dispersed in raw rubber, such as sulfur, colorants, stearic acid, N-phenyl-2-naphthylamine, pigments, oils, resins, waxes, carbon black and others.

• The deteriorating effect of light and heat on rubber was recognized long before the discovery of vulcanization.

Chemical properties

• The solubility of raw rubber in its most common solvents is not very high. To make a 10% solution some dissociation is necessary, either by chemical means, using an oxidant, or by physical means, using a mill.

• The most used solvents are benzene and naphtha. Other good solvents are trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethane, pentachloroethane, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, toluene, xylene, kerosene, and ether. The rubber first swells slowly to gel consistencies and then disperses to form a solution. Raw rubber increases from 10 to 40 times its own weight in solvents which, at ordinary temperatures, form a gel with the rubber.

• The viscosity of the raw rubber solution is large.

• Raw rubber heated up to 200 ºC. It softens and its solutions have a lower viscosity, but the number of double bonds remains unchanged.

• When the temperature rises to 250 ºC, the double bonds separate and ring formation takes place. The change to cyclic rubber increases the density and solubility, the product obtained is a hard and brittle resin.

Applications

Thousands of rubber articles are currently manufactured for very different uses. Rubber is widely used in the manufacture of tires, rims, waterproof and insulating articles, due to its excellent properties of elasticity and resistance to acids and alkaline substances. It is water repellent, insulating against temperature and electricity. It dissolves easily in oils, benzenes and some hydrocarbons.

More than half of the rubber used today is synthetic, but several million tons of natural rubber are still produced annually.

Since 1823, rubber has been used as a material to make clothing, perhaps on the basis that this type of clothing forms a “second skin”. Hypoallergenic rubber can be produced from guayule. Rubber is a proposal for the future as an insulator in the motor industry.

The main sources of pure rubber are latex sheets and plates from Hevea tree plantations, as well as non-coagulated latex used in some industries. Recycled rubber, heated with alkali for 12 or 30 hours, can be used as an adulterant for raw rubber to lower the final price of the product. The amount of recycled rubber that can be used will depend on the quality of the article that you want to manufacture.

Compared with vulcanized rubber, untreated rubber has very few applications. It is used in cements, electrical tapes, adhesive tapes, and as insulation for blankets and shoes. Vulcanized rubber has many other applications. Because of its resistance to abrasion, soft rubber is used in car tire treads and conveyor belts; hard rubber is used to make pumping equipment casings and pipes used for drilling with abrasive mud.

Due to its flexibility, it is frequently used to make hoses, tires and rollers for a wide variety of machines, from rollers for wringing clothes to those installed in rotary presses and printing presses. Due to its elasticity, it is used in various types of shock absorbers and mechanisms of machine casings to reduce vibrations. Being relatively impermeable to gases, it is used to make air hoses, balloons and mattresses. Its resistance to water and most liquid chemicals is used to make waterproof clothing, diving suits, chemical and medical tubing, storage tank linings, processing machines, and railway tank cars. Due to its resistance to electricity, soft rubber is used in insulating materials, protective gloves, shoes and blankets. And hard rubber is used for phone cases, radio parts, meters and other electrical instruments. Rubber's coefficient of friction, high on dry surfaces and low on wet surfaces, is used for drive belts and water-lubricated bearings in deep-well pumps.

Microwave heating of rubber before molding

Microwave Preheating Before Compound Saudi Arabia

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