Preparation of Natural Rubber
1. Rubber tapping: By cutting a small V-cut in the tree bark, the milky white liquid latex from rubber trees is collected in a cup. To coagulate the rubber particles, the collected latex is washed, filtered, and subjected to an acid reaction.
2. Mastication: Tapping-obtained rubber is still not ready for usage. It has a highly brittle character while cold and becomes quite gluey when warmed up. The rubber is allowed to travel between the rollers and is pressed to make it softer and more workable in order to get rid of its brittleness and overpowering smell. Depending on the qualities needed for the rubber, this procedure is repeated. To improve the quality of rubber, other chemical compounds are also added throughout this procedure.
3. Calendaring: Using rollers, calendaring is a method that is mostly used to provide rubber shape ( after proper mixing of the chemical ingredients). The finished product is then put through specialized holes in an extrusion machine to create hollow tubes.
4. Vulcanization: Completing the previous processes won’t produce rubber that is strong or hard enough to be employed in machinery and goods like vehicle tyres. Sulphur is added to the rubber to improve these qualities, and it is heated at a temperature between 373K and 415K. Vulcanization is the term for this process. After vulcanization, the Sulphur works as a cross-linking agent, causing the rubber to become cross-linked and rigid.
Rubber Industry
Natural Rubber refers to elastomers that are manufactured naturally. Latex, a milky white liquid that drips from the bark of various tropical and subtropical plants, is the primary ingredient in natural rubber. This latex rubber is mostly produced in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. It is made by polymerizing the chemical compound isoprene (2-methyl-1, 3-butadiene), also known as cis-1, 4-polyisoprene. Simply described, they are produced by loosely fusing the isoprene monomers into a long, twisted chain. The Rubber Research Institute developed the first genetically modified rubber plant, particularly for this site, and it was planted in Assam where it is expected to thrive in the climatic conditions of the mountainous northeastern region.
Rubber Consumption in India:
- Sector of automotive tyres: 50% (all Kind of Rubber)
- Tires and tubes for bicycles: 15%
- Shoes: 12%
- Hoses and belts: 6%
- Production of latex and camelback: 7%
- Other product: 10%
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