What’s use of natural rubber and synthetic rubber
Synthetic rubber _Natural rubber
The modern society is heavily dependent upon rubber- both natural rubber and synthetic rubber! Rubber products are used everywhere- at work, at home, at play, and even while we move using any mode of transportation- automobiles, trains or aircrafts. Industries too use rubber to make various products ranging from rubber hoses, belts, gaskets to tires and rubber molding among many other rubber products. The common factor between all these goods is the rubber but there are differences too and the basic difference is the type of rubber used- natural and synthetic rubber! In this article we will try to know why do we use natural and synthetic rubber along with various applications of natural and synthetic rubber. We will also come to know about the advantages of both- natural as well as synthetic rubber.
Why do We Use Natural and Synthetic Rubber
Due to its many characteristics like elasticity, resilience, and toughness, rubber is used for making many products for such sectors as transportation, industrial products, consumer products, hygienic and medical sectors. Whether natural or synthetic- rubber has certain common characteristic features because of which we use natural and synthetic rubber
- Rubber is elastic as well as water-resistant.
- It is resistant to alkalies and weak acids.
- Rubber has such characters as elasticity, toughness, impermeability, adhesiveness, and electrical resistance. All these properties of rubber make it useful as an adhesive, coating composition, a molding compound, and an electrical insulator.
It traps air and thus it floats. - It is a bad conductor of electricity and thus doesn’t conduct electricity.
Natural rubber _Synthetic rubber
Natural or synthetic rubber- both of them in their native form are useless. After addition of chemicals , these rubbers take on properties that cannot be competed by any other known material in the world. Depending on the chemicals used, products made of rubber can be soft, resilient, and/or hard in varying degrees.
When talking about individual advantages of all types of synthetic rubber, it has better aging and weathering properties, it is more resistant to oil, solvents, oxygen, ozone, and certain chemicals. Synthetic rubber also has better resilience over a wider temperature range.
Individual advantages of natural rubber include less building up of heat from flexing and greater resistance to tearing when hot. It is this superior tear strength and excellent resistance to heat that makes natural rubber better suited for high-performance tyres for heavy vehicles like trucks and buses, as well as more sophisticated ones like racing cars and aircrafts.
Difference between synthetic rubber and natural rubber
Synthetic rubbers are obtained by polymerizing various petrochemicals known as monomers. Some examples are: Sterin butadiene rubber (SBR) obtained by cross-polymerization of strain and butadiene, Butyl rubber (IIR) which is a synthetic rubber obtained by polymerization of isobutylene with isoprene, NB nitrile rubber Which is an oil-resistant synthetic rubber obtained from the polymerization of alkyl nitrile and butadiene, and neoprene produced by chloroprene polymerization. Natural rubber is obtained from raw rubber, which is drawn mostly from the sap of Hoya brasiliensis. An incision is made in the bark of the tree and the raw rubber is collected in a cup or pot, then filtered, washed and allowed to react with an acid to freeze the rubber particles and form a mass. The rubber is then compressed into molds and dried. It then goes to the next stages of production in the industry to be reformed.