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Synthetic rubber is a human-made plastic that functions as an elastic substance. An elastic substance is a material that has the mechanical property of being able to withstand pressure to change shape more than most other materials and still restore its original shape. Synthetic rubber is used to replace natural rubber in many applications, where its superior properties come into play.
Natural rubber is derived from rubber tree sap, undergoing a polymerization reaction to form isoprene with some impurities. This limits the properties of rubber. In addition, limitations include the incidence of unwanted double bonds and secondary impurities from the polymerization of natural rubber latex. For the above reasons, the property indexes of natural rubber are somewhat reduced although the vulcanization process helps improve them again.
Synthetic rubber is created from the condensation of simple structures including isoprene (2-methyl-1, 3-butadiene), 1,3-butadiene, chloroprene (2-chloro-1,3-butadiene) and isobutylene (methylpropene) with a small percentage of isoprene for the chain link. In addition, these single structures can be mixed in desired ratios to form copolymerization reactions that result in synthetic rubber structures with different physical, mechanical and chemical properties. .
Since the 1890s, when road vehicles using pneumatic wheels were introduced, the demand for rubber increased rapidly. Political issues cause natural rubber prices to fluctuate greatly. Supply shortages, especially during the war years, created the need to create synthetic rubber.
In 1879, Bouchardt created a synthetic rubber from the polymerization of isoprene in the laboratory. British and German scientists later, during 1910-1912, developed other methods to also create plastics from isoprene.
Germany was the first country to succeed in producing synthetic rubber on a commercial scale. This took place during World War I, when the country could not find enough natural rubber sources. This synthetic rubber has a completely different structure from Bouchardt's product, it is based on butadiene polymerization as a result of research in the laboratory of Russian scientist Sergei Lebedev. When the war ended, this type of rubber was replaced by natural rubber, although scientists continued to search for new synthetic rubber substances and new production processes. The result of these efforts was the invention of "Buna S" rubber (Styrene-butadiene rubber). This is a copolymer product of butadiene and styrene, today it accounts for half of global synthetic rubber production.
By 1925, the price of natural rubber had increased to the point where many companies began looking for methods of producing artificial rubber to compete with the natural product. In the US, the search focuses on different ingredients than what is being researched in Europe. Thiokol began selling Neoprene synthetic rubber in 1930. DuPont, based on research results in a laboratory in Nieuwland, also launched a similar type of rubber in 1931.
United States synthetic rubber production increased rapidly during World War II because the fascist Axis Powers controlled nearly all of the world's natural rubber supply - Imperial Japan occupied East Asia . Small improvements in the synthetic rubber manufacturing process continued after the war. By the early 1960s, synthetic rubber production had surpassed natural rubber.