Synthetic and Natural Rubber Essay -- Comparison Material Rubber

Synthetic and Natural RubberAbstractRubber is an central resource with a wide variety of applications. It can be obtainednaturally from the coat tree, Hevea brasiliensis. It can also be synthesized from petroleum andnatural gas. twain natural and synthetic rubbers have their own advantages and disadvantages.Natural rubber is made up the linear chain polymer, cis-l,4-polyisoprene. Styrene-butadienerubber (SBR) is the most common synthetic rubber. It is a random copolymer of styrene andbutadiene and has good physical properties once it has been strengthened through vulcanization.IntroductionRubber is an elastomer that can be obtained naturally from certain trees or synthesizedfrom petroleum and natural gas. 1 It is a valuable resource that is commonly used in tires,machine belting, wire insulation, and shoe soles. Rubber is created naturally, most commonly bythe rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis .1 There be many different types of synthetic rubberincluding isoprene, butadiene, polysu lfides, polychloroprene, nitrile rubber, and styrenebutadienerubber. 3 There are advantages and disadvantages of both synthetic and naturalrubber.ResultsHevea trees are native to the Amazon region, but were brought to Asia, which is now thelargest producer of natural rubber. 1 Natural rubber is obtained by a process called tapping. 2 Aknife is used to set close to a shallow cut in the tree to allow latex to flow freely and be collected in acup.2 A champion tapping yields about 50 grams of rubber and usually occurs once every two days.2 Natural rubber can be produced at a rate of about 1 ton of rubber per acre per year. 2Natural rubber is the linear chain polymer, cis-l,4-polyisoprene. The polymer is ... ...lant Products. 7 Jan.1998. 29 July 2008.8 Rodgers, Brendan, Donald S. Tracey, and Walter H. Waddell. Biosynthesis of naturalrubber. digital image. EBSCOhost. Aug. 2005. 29 July 20084c49b0571e04%40sessionmgr7.9 Rodgers, Brendan, Donald S. Tracey, and Walter H. Waddell. Configur ation ofpolyisoprene molecule. Digital image. EBSCOhost. Aug. 2005. 29 July 20084c49b0571e04%40sessionmgr7.10 Copolymer random arrangement Styrene-butadiene copolymer. Digital image.Encyclopdia Britannica Online. 29 July 2008rubber-sbrdefault.