Natural Rubber

Did you know that about a quarter of the world’s rubber are produced from natural resources, while other types are manmade or synthetic rubber produced from petroleum? Natural rubber is a commodity or vital product produced in agriculture, which is used in the production of many functional products.

 The role of rubber in the socio-economic fabric of many developed and semi-developed countries is very important. Now more than 20 million families have the main activities of planting rubber and live in this way.

What is Natural Rubber?

Some trees, especially trees that belong to the family of Hevea and Ficus trees, produce an elastic substance from their latex sap, that is made of natural rubber from this elastic. In fact, natural rubber should be an elastomer or elastic hydrocarbon polymer.

 This type of rubber is actually a type of rubber that contains inside itself rubber vulcanized rubber that is finished in many rubber products.

 Natural rubber is also known by other names, including Indian rubber, Gum Elastic, or caoutchouc rubber.

How Are Natural Rubber Made?

The sap of rubber trees are the main source of natural rubber production. In order to collect the latex rubber, the stings are regularly tapped. Then the shear is created on the surface of the bark of the tree, and the latex juice that is beneath it is collected in containers such as cups.

 This sap is not useable at first, so it first purifies it to make it usable rubber. After that, acid is added to this latex to produce a sap that is used to some produce like jelly products. After that the latex jelly is made in this way, they should be flattened and hanged to dry.

In 1839 Charles Goodyear unveiled a new method for the production of natural rubber, which made the rubber produced more robust, stronger and flexible. What he invented was the vulcanization of rubber. The main problem with natural rubber was that they were sticky, they became deformed during warming and were very fragile when cold, and they did not have good quality and tensile strength.

 With these conditions, these rubbers could not be used to produce rubber products that have good quality and tensile strength.

 By using the natural rubber vulcanization method, the polymeric structure of the rubber chains and cannot moving separately. With this method, although in the course of heat or any other stress, the natural rubber deformed temporarily, but when the stress was removed, the rubber again returned to its natural state.

Natural Rubber Resources

Although the main source of natural rubber production is the tree with name Hevea brasiliensis, which is a tropical tree, yet natural rubber can be obtained from hundreds of other plant species.

 These types of trees are usually grown in areas where the annual rainfall in these areas is less than 2000 mm and the air temperature is not more than 28 degrees or less than 21 degrees. With this in mind, with the fact that the natural rubber tufts of high altitude, about 600 meters, can be easily understood that the main hometown of these trees is about 10 degrees on both sides of the equator.

 However, in other parts of the world, these trees are also cultivated, among which the most important of these areas are the north of China, Mexico and Guatemala.

Sir Henry Wickham In 1876, collected about 70000 seeds of different rubber trees from Brazil. After these seeds germinated, they were taken to East of Indies, where they caused the area to be known today as one of the poles of rubber plantations.

 Though today, 90 percent of the world’s natural rubber is produced by Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

 In Africa, the Philippines and Europe, planting the rubber tree began to compensate for the shortage of natural rubber produced from Indonesia.

Natural Rubber Industry

Despite the advent of artificial, abnormal and manmade rubber, natural rubber has grown over the last 100 years.

 Natural rubber industries have been in the field of research and development over many years in various industrial fields such as agriculture, physics, breeding to improve productivity and performance, and chemistry and technologies, along with many other applications in order to help and expand plethora of applications.

 You can also read more details on our website for a better understanding of the natural rubber industry.

Products made of natural rubber.

Many natural rubber products, such as tire types, engineering components, and many latex products that are used to produce essential crops in the fight against AIDS and other diseases, are of great importance in modern day life.

 Natural rubbers, such as synthetic rubbers, are produced in varying degrees and levels. Latex and rubber solid are the main indicators of differentiating and grading natural rubber types.

We said that latex is a kind of liquid which comes from some types of trees, and the type of tree affects its quality. But the Solid grades of the rubber depends on the manufacturer or the rubber case.

 Products manufactured by natural rubber have a wide range of products, some of the most important of these products are gloves, balloons, tubes, condoms and more.

Natural Rubber Key Features

Natural rubbers have unique characteristics and features, among which the most important ones are:

• Natural rubber has high resistance to tensile and tear and is extremely resistant to fatigue.
• Natural rubber is very easily stick to itself and other materials, which makes it easier to manufacture rubber products and fabricate with this type of rubber.
• One of the bugs in the natural rubber is the average resistance of these types of rubbers to environmental damage such as heat, light, ozone and so on.
• Natural rubber tires are very well bonded to brass-plated steel cord, which makes these types of rubbers ideal for tire production.
• The low level of hysteresis in this type of rubber produces low heat, which is very effective in maintaining the integrity and integrity of the new generation tires as well as their repairs.
• Natural rubber has little resistance to rotation, which reduces fuel consumption
• Natural rubber is resistant to tearing, slitting and cutting.

Uses of Natural rubber

• Natural rubber is a great barrier to water penetration
• Natural rubber seems to be the best barrier to dealing with pathogens such as the AIDS (HIV)virus. For this reason, these types of rubber are the best type of rubber for the production of condoms, surgical and medical wristbands.
• Natural rubber is an excellent elastic or springy rubber
• Natural Latex Rubber is the best material for producing all kinds of catheters, balloons, elastic materials, medical tubes and some types of adhesives.
• Apart from rayon, this material can be considered the only natural substance used in the automotive industry.
• Another product is Rubberwood Rubber, which is being added every day to its range and production. Rubberwood is a natural charcoal for local cooking.

Natural Rubber Consumption

Natural rubber consumption patterns have changed in recent years, especially in North America, Western Europe and even East Asia.

 The countries of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which are the largest natural rubber producers in the world, today have become one of the most rubber consuming countries in the world. However, there are also potential for absorption of natural rubber in eastern European countries. India, Brazil and China are taking all the natural rubbers produced in their own country.

Thailand, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, India, China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and some other countries, respectively, are the largest natural rubber producers in the world.

 These countries are located in the geographic area, which are 5 to 15 degrees north or south of the equator, and therefore have the best conditions for producing natural rubber. According to the 2001 annual report, more than 6.5 million tons of natural rubber is produced in the world.