Natural rubber is processed latex, which is a naturally-occurring compound found in 10% of all flowering plant species. Natural latex is most commonly harvested from the Para Rubber Tree, which produces latex in quantities sufficient for industrial harvesting, though most of the rubber now used in the world is synthetic.
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Natural Rubber
Natural latex farms feature many rows of tapped rubber trees from which latex slowly seeps out. There are few uses for untreated natural latex; in order to become rubber tires, gloves, adhesives, catheters, diaphragms, water seals, engineering components, hoses, industrial bands or any of the other widely used natural rubber products, latex must be treated and shaped. There are several treating and curing processes that can be applied to raw latex, the most common of which is vulcanization. Vulcanization is the processes by which latex is heated and combined with additives like sulfur and carbon black to reduce its stickiness and increase its elasticity and strength properties. Once shaped, vulcanized or subject to other treatments, rubber products can be used in applications in industrial, commercial and consumer products contexts. Aerospace, automotive manufacturing, construction, healthcare, food processing, sporting goods, defense contracting and many other operations make extensive use of natural rubber products.
The word latex is actually the word for any stable dispersion of any polymer microparticles in a liquid; the natural latexes that can be extracted from plants are only one kind of latex. The words latex and rubber are often used interchangeably, though this is incorrect. Natural Para Rubber Tree latex becomes rubber only after processing. The latex is extracted from the tree and combined with a stabilizing agent like ammonia to prevent the coagulation (clumping) to which latex is given when exposed to atmosphere. The ammonia-latex mixture is then strained and concentrated in a processing facility; its water content is decreased using a centrifuge. At this point, the latex-stabilizer mixture is called latex concentrate. It can then be heated, at which point it becomes solidified to a degree that depends on its water and stabilizer content and the extent to which it is heated. This semi-solid product is now the most basic form of natural rubber, though in this form it has very few uses. Rubber extruders, injection molders and other rubber processing equipment are necessary to shape the rubber into usable products, and additional treatment processes like vulcanization are usually necessary after shaping to bring the rubber's qualities of strength and durability to acceptable levels.
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Natural Rubber Image Provided by Timco Rubber Products, Inc.
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