Natural rubber

Natural rubber is an elastic polymeric material obtained from the latex of rubber-producing plants, composed mainly of cis-1,4-polyisoprene.

Cis-1,4-polyisoprene: A polymer whose repeating isoprene units are joined in the cis-1,4 configuration. This is the main polymer in natural rubber and gives its chains a flexible, coiled shape.
Rubber tree: Hevea brasiliensis, a tropical tree cultivated as the principal commercial source of natural rubber. Its tapped latex supplies most natural rubber used by industry.
Pneumatic tire: A tire that contains compressed air within a flexible casing. Natural rubber is a major component of tire tread and other tire parts.
Mesoamerican rubber: Rubber materials made and used by Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica before European colonization. Mesoamerican societies worked natural latex into useful objects centuries before industrial rubber.
Synthetic rubber: Elastomers manufactured from chemically synthesized polymers rather than harvested plant latex. Synthetic rubbers compete with natural rubber and can be tailored for particular conditions.
Vulcanization: A process that crosslinks rubber polymers, commonly using sulfur and heat. Crosslinks keep stretched chains from sliding permanently past one another.
Latex: A stable aqueous dispersion of polymer particles and other substances produced by certain plants and animals. Natural rubber is recovered by processing the latex of rubber-producing plants.
Rubber band: A loop of elastic rubber used to hold objects together. This familiar product uses natural rubber’s ability to recoil after stretching.
Charles Goodyear: An American inventor associated with developing practical sulfur vulcanization of rubber. His vulcanization process made natural rubber more useful across changing temperatures.
Gutta-percha: A natural trans-1,4-polyisoprene material that is comparatively rigid at room temperature. Its trans structure contrasts with natural rubber’s cis structure and high elasticity.

Linked from 40 pages