RUBBER INDUSTRY

CHAPTER 5
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• Learning
outcomes:

1. Differentiate the
properties of
natural rubber
and synthetic
rubber.
2. Explain the
vulcanization
process for
synthetic rubber
production.
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• Malaysia's manufacturing focuses on three categories: tires, industrial rubber products, and
consumables such as gloves and shoes.
• FGV Rubber Industries Sdn. Bhd. is one of the largest SMR producers in Malaysia.
• List of Top Malaysian Rubber Company:
1. Brightway Holdings Sdn Bhd - leader in the medical and industrial specialty glove
2. Top Glove Corporation Bhd - one of the world’s largest gloves manufacturers
3. Hartalega Holdings Bhd - one of the largest producers of nitrile gloves in the world
4. Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd - one among the largest manufacturers of latex disposable gloves
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 Introduction
• Natural rubber is made from a runny, milky white liquid
called latex that oozes from certain plants when you cut
into them.
• Although there are something like 200 plants in the world
that produce latex, over 99 percent of the world's natural
rubber is made from the latex that comes from a tree
species called Hevea brasiliensis (rubber tree).
• Natural rubber is a polymer of isoprene (also known as 2-
methyl-1,3-butadiene) with the chemical formula (C5H8)n.

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• In simple words, it's made of many thousands of basic C5H8
units (the monomer of isoprene) - loosely joined to make
long, tangled chains.
• These chains of molecules can be pulled apart and untangled
fairly easily, but they spring straight back together if you release
them—and that's what makes rubber elastic.
• The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene,
which can also be produced synthetically.

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• Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications
and products - It is normally very stretchy and flexible
and extremely waterproof.
• Natural rubber - latex (milky liquid) from rubber trees.
• Latex is a natural polymer
of isoprene (most often
cis-1,4-polyisoprene).
• Natural rubber does not
handle easily (it's sticky),
do not have very good
properties or durability (it
rots).

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Properties of Natural Rubber

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 Natural Rubber Processing
Rubber tapping – using special knife

Collecting the latex – white milky

Coagulation process – add formic acid –

let coagulate by time

Squeezing the coagulum (soft solid slab)

through series of roller – to remove
water and reduces thickness (~3 mm)

Drying the sheet under sunlight or

smoke house – ribbed smoke sheet

Shape to large bales – for shipping to

the processor
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Synthetic vs Natural Rubber

Synthetic rubbers are

superior to natural
rubbers in two
major respects,
thermal stability and
resistance to oils and
related compounds.

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History of Synthetic Rubber

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 Synthetic Rubber

• A synthetic rubber is an
artificial elastomer* -
polymers synthesized from
petroleum byproducts.
• Is any type of artificially
made polymer material
which acts as an elastomer.
• serves as a substitute for
natural rubber in many
cases, especially when
improved material properties
are needed.
*Polymers that displays rubbery elasticity.
• Synthetic rubbers are artificially produced materials with
properties similar to natural rubber.
• Most are obtained by polymerization or polycondensation
of unsaturated monomers.
• A wide range of different synthetic rubbers have emerged,
reflecting the various different applications and the
chemical and mechanical properties they require.

SBR tires

Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR)

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 • Co-polymerization of different monomers allows the
material properties to be varied across a wide range.
• Polymerization can take place under hot or cold
conditions, which result in hot polymers (hot rubber) or
cold polymers (cold rubber).
• Synthetic rubbers are
marketed as compressed
bales and square blocks.
Also produced in the form
of powder rubber, talcum- SYNTHETIC RUBBER

coated chips, granules and

as latex concentrates in
liquid form

Additional information, please read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_rubber
 Synthetic Rubber (cont.)
• The benefits of synthetic rubber compared with natural
rubber:
1. better oil and temperature resistance.
2. the possibility of a product with an extremely
constant quality.
3. Allergy to proteins in natural rubber latex
• Synthetic rubbers made from butadiene (polybutadiene
copolymers) rank as the most important synthetic
rubbers produced.
• Other than natural rubber, all the other types of
rubber are synthetic or manmade, for example:
i. Polychloroprene (Neoprene)
ii. Polybutadiene
iii. Poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene) - SBR rubber
iv. Polyisobutylene
v. Acrylonitrile butadiene rubber - NBR rubber
vi. Silicone

Silicone rubber

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 Rubber Processing

Raw Rubber
Mastication
Compounding
Rubber Compound
Forming Process
Vulcanization Process

Vulcanized Rubber
/ End Product
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 Mastication
• Mastication is mechanical shearing process using two roll
mill or internal mixer for:
- reduced the molecular weight
- reduced the viscosity and
- soften the raw rubber
• Mastication and softening are usually carried out in
batches.
• The operation is done either in large enclosed mixing
machines or on rubber mills.
• Example: Banbury Mixer.

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 Mastication (cont.)
• Consisting of heavy steel counter rotating paddles.
• Rubber mills have two large horizontally opposed, that
are rotated slowly in opposite directions and different
speeds.
• After mastication - the processing will much easier and
increased the effectiveness of dispersions of
compounding ingredients.
• The mastication is compulsory for natural rubber due to
high molecular weight in nature (around 105- 106).
• Rubber is sheared and softened in the gap between the
paddles and wall of the Banbury mixer and in the gap
between the two cylinders in the roll mill.
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Banbury mixer Example: rubber mixing mill
 Compounding Process
• Rubber compounding is the away of making useful
products from raw rubber.
• The process involved the addition of additives to change
the masticated raw rubber to rubber compound before a
forming process.
• The compounding process used the two roll mill and
internal mixer.
• Rubber is always compounded with additives. The
various ingredients maybe classified according to
their specific functions in the following groups:

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 Compounding Process (cont.)
1. Fillers – carbon black or non black fillers.
2. Plasticizers or softeners – extender, processing aids,
special plasticizer.
3. Age resistors or antidegradants – antioxidants,
antiozonats, special age resistors.
4. Vulcanizing or curing ingredients – vulcanizing
agents, accelerators and activator
5. Special-purpose ingredients – coloring pigments,
blowing agents, flame retardants, antistatic agents
retarders, peptizers.

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 Compounding Process (cont.)
Objective of compounding:
1. Facilitate processing and fabrication
2. Ensure a rapid throughput with minimal reject rate
3. To achieve the required balance in vulcanizate
properties
4. To provide durability.
ALL at lowest possible cost!
 Forming Process
• After all compounding ingredients have been mixed, the
compounded green stock is tacky and thermoplastics
• In this plastic condition, the stock can be shaped by the
application of force.
• This can be accomplished for example, by squeezing it
between rolls (calendering) or pushing through an orifice
having the desired shape (tubing or extruding).

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Rubber calendaring process
SUMMARY

@ Compounding

@ Forming process

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 Vulcanization Process
• Vulcanization of rubber is a process of improvement of
the rubber elasticity and strength by heating it in the
presence of sulfur, which results in three-dimensional
cross-linking of the chain rubber molecules (polyisoprene)
bonded to each other by sulfur atoms.
• In its natural state, the molecules in rubber are long chains
that are tangled up and only weakly linked together. It's
relatively easy to pull them apart—and that's why latex
rubber is so stretchy and elastic.

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 Vulcanization Process (cont.)
• When latex is vulcanized, the added sulfur atoms
(vulcanization agents) help to form extra bonds between
the rubber molecules, which are known as cross-links.

• The purpose of vulcanization (also called curing) is to

chemically link the rubber chains together by
"crosslinks" to form a three-dimensional network.
• Sulfur is the main vulcanization agent.
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 Sulphur Vulcanization
• The number of sulfur atoms in the crosslink strongly
influences the physical properties of the final rubber:
- short crosslink give the rubber better heat resistance.
- high number of crosslink give the rubber good dynamic
properties but with lesser heat resistance.

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 Sulphur Vulcanization (cont.)
• The crosslinking produced can have a monosulphide and
polysulphide or both depending on the vulcanization system
used.

Network structure of sulphur vulcanizate

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 Sulphur Vulcanization (cont.)
• Sulphur vulcanization systems can be divided into 3
systems depending on the relative amount of sulphur &
accelerator used.

Sulphur donor – sulphur vulcanization systems without sulphur but gives a

sulphur during volcanization

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 Sulphur Vulcanization (cont.)
• The three system can be differentiated through the types
of crosslinking produced and the main chain modification
after vulcanization.

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 Sulphur Vulcanization (cont.)
• In order to increase the vulcanization reaction rate –
other additives such as accelerators, activators
(commonly zinc oxide or stearic acid) and
antidegradants are added during the process.
✓ Accelerator – speed up the vulcanization reaction.
✓ Activator – to increase the accelerator effectiveness.
✓ Antidegradant – used to prevent degradation of the
vulcanized product by heat, oxygen and ozone.

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 Sulphur Vulcanization
• Vulcanization – most typically used high temperature and
pressure.
• Example: A typical vulcanization temperature for a
passenger tire is 10 minutes at 170°C.
• Advantages of sulphur vulcanization:
i. Low cost
ii. Ease to availability
iii. Fast vulcanization
iv. Minimal interference with other ingredient
v. Excellent balance of vulcanizates properties.

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 Vulcanization Methods
1. Sulfur vulcanization - sulfur
2. Non-sulfur vulcanization – metal oxide (eg:ZnO or any
other PbO,CaO,MgO), difunctional compound (eg:
epoxy resin is used with nitrile, diamines with
fluororubbers), peroxides
3. High temperature vulcanization
4. Radiation vulcanization - Gamma radiation or high
energy electron beams
 Uses of Rubber
1. Air tight

2. Absorbed vibration

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3. Waterproof

4. Adhesive

5. Electrical insulator

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6. Gasketing

7. Toys

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 Glossary of Rubber
Materials Function
Elastomer/raw Basic components in rubber compounding
rubber
Fillers Used for reinforced or modified the mechanical properties and
also to reduced the cost
Plasticizer To ease the processing, to modify the specific properties and
also as extender
Anti oxidant To protect the rubber from ageing
Accelerator To increase vulcanization process and reduced the time of
vulcanization
Activator To increase the accelerator efficiency
Vulcanization agent Needed during vulcanization process to produce a crosslinking
Other ingredients Used for specified purpose such as coloring, retarder etc.

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 Glossary of Rubber (cont.)
Process Function
Mastication Mechanical shearing process to reduce the molecular weight,
viscosity and soften the rubber
Compounding Process of addition the rubber additives to convert the raw
rubber into rubber compound
Forming Process of convert the rubber compound into a required size
and shape with forced
Vulcanization Process of convert the shape product to an elastic materials
with formation of a crosslinking under high temperature and
pressure
Final operation Final operation after vulcanization such as trimming, paint or
surface treatment
Quality control To ensure the quality of final product

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