Rubber

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• Whenever designing a custom stamp for your company, never compromise on its quality because in the end it is the most…

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• Many industries use rubber tubing for various purposes. In fact, various types of rubber tubing are used for different applications…

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• Silicon and acrylic adhesives are those rubber adhesives that are widely used in Polyimide tapes. In fact, the polyimide…

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Rubber industry has a tremendous global impact. Infact, it is very interesting to note the fact that in the history and the application of various materials, very few have made a large impact globally as natural and synthetic rubber. The natural rubber material stretches from plantations in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia to factories in almost all countries of the world. It is estimated that natural rubber accounts for only about 25% of the rubber used in industry. Synthetic rubber is the primary source of raw materials for many rubber products today.

World rubber market

The future of the rubber industry is tied to the global economy. The consumption of rubber worldwide during the period 1993-2003 was between 3.5 and 4.0% annually and was in line with the increase of world GDP. The growth rate for rubber should be more than those for motor vehicle production and motor vehicle registration in the coming years. Non-tire applications account for the majority of usage of rubber at 52 to 54 percent of the total, with little change expected. There are and will be numerous applications in various sectors like:

• Automotive (belts, hoses, gaskets, moldings)
• Industrial (adhesives, padding, belting, vibration dampening, wire sheathing)
• Consumer (toys, door moldings)
• Construction (roofing, sealants, moldings)

The outlook is very bright for midrange specialty elastomers, such as ethylene-propylene and nitrile. The US synthetic rubber industry reports more than $4.5 billion in annual shipments, and it exports substantial amounts of these materials. The production and sales of rubber-based products constitute major market opportunities.

World rubber supply

Major producing countries of natural rubber are Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. This is the reason why many of the large tire companies have vast holdings in South East Asia. Small producers equally play an important role. Synthetic rubber is manufactured in various plants to different specifications around the globe. The division between the two source of rubber is about 40 percent for natural and 60 percent for synthetic on a global basis and it is not expected to change much in the coming years.

World rubber demand

Demand for natural rubber is always greater than synthetic rubber because it is considered superior to synthetic rubber. As a result of its high quality, natural rubber is the preferred choice when making surgical gloves and drapes, contraceptives, shoe soles, nipples on baby bottles, rubber bands, even carpet backing, in radial tires and in blends with various synthetic elastomers, where its use improves weathering qualities.

The demand for synthetic rubber is aggravated by increasing growth for non-tire products, rising motor vehicle production, and stable pricing. Infact, the demand for non-tire rubber is expected to outpace world economic growth due to growth in industrialization levels in developing regions of the world. According to a recent estimate, world tire demand is projected to expand 2.6% every year, with OEM tire demand growth by strong gains in the global motor vehicle industry, and this requires a boost in the replacement needs by a steadily rising global motor vehicle park.

Industrial Rubber Products Demand

Global demand for industrial rubber products is estimated to rise to 4.3% annually through 2013 to $97.8 billion. Market advances in developing areas will further increase due to healthy economic growth, rising personal income levels, ongoing industrialization efforts and also due to growth in manufacturing output and fixed investment expenditures. The industrial equipment market, which includes industrial machinery and equipment, off-road vehicles, will continue to hold the largest share of aggregate demand in 2013.

China, which will surpass the US to become the largest market for industrial rubber products, will account for over one-third of all additional demand generated through 2013. India will also record strong gains, and sales growth is expected to be good as well in a number of lower-volume markets, like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Advances will continue to be strong in Eastern Europe.

Although there is slight slump , industrial rubber product demand in the US is expected to recover by 2013. Advances will benefit from a turnaround in motor vehicle production and there is ongoing process of recovery in the manufacturing sector. Western Europe and Japan will experience sluggish gains. However, these areas, including Australia and Canada, will continue to be the most intensive users of industrial rubber products because of the advanced industrial and technological nature of their economies.

Mechanical rubber goods comprised the largest rubber product segment in 2008. Suppliers of mechanical rubber products will benefit from continued gains and this is evident due to global motor vehicle production through 2013, as these products are highly represented in this market. Advances will be stronger in the hose and belt segments, reflecting their wide applications diversity and stronger price outlook compared to mechanical goods.

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There is a wide variety of rubber extruded products used in various purposes, both industrial as well as commercial. Rubber is one of the most common material used in almost every industrial application. Its resilience or elasticity or flexibility makes it an effective choice for applications which involve shock absorption, sealing and fluid transportation.

Advantages of Rubber Extrusion

There are different rubber processing methods but of all the methods, extrusion remains a popular choice for many manufacturers. This is because, extruded rubber products can be produced in a neat, uniform manner. A great variety of shapes can be produced, including hollow designs for any industrial need, that greatly reduce material cost and create flexible, lightweight products. Rubber materials are in great demand, making rubber extrusions and molded rubber effective ways to produce these materials.

Extruded rubber products are applied in a wide range of sealing and gasketing applications. They are available in various compounds and styles to meet specific end-use requirements involving various factors like size, tolerance, configuration, cost and performance. Some extruded rubber products are as follows:

We cater to wholesale supply of rubber extruded products. For bulk requirement of rubber extruded components, rubber extruded goods like rubber bumper, rubber bushes, rubber cord, rubber gasket, rubber diaphragm etc., send us online enquiry and get prompt response from genuine suppliers.Click here to send enquiry.

Rubber Extrusion: The Process

The process of extruding can be compared to squeezing of toothpaste from a tube and the paste takes the shape of the tube opening. Rubber material is processed through an extruder, during the rubber extrusion process. There are two main components of rubber extruders:

• A small heated drum: As the material enters the drum, it is softened through heating and then pressurized through the rotation of a screw and
• A die: The pressure pushes the rubber through the die, located at the end of the extruder.

Depending on the result desired, pre-heating of the material is optional. The rubber emerges from the extruder in a profile which resembles the die shape. As the possibilities of die design are nearly limitless, so also the number of possible extruded rubber profiles. After being extruded, the rubber material is cured using various methods such as salt bath, autoclave, convection, hot air, microwave and mandrel.

Applications of Extruded Rubber Products

Extruded rubber products are used in a wide variety of industries like Aerospace, Automotive, Lighting, Appliance, Electronics, Construction and Medical industries

Types of Rubber Extrusion Process

• Co-Extrusion: This is considered to be a variation of the basic extrusion process. This process allows for the convergence of rubber materials that contain different properties like color and consistency.
• Cold feed extrusion: This is the process of extrusion without pre-heating. This process is best suited to produce hoses, profiles, cable and sheaths.
• Hot feed extrusion: This on the other hand is the extrusion process which involves the pre-heating before performing the extrusion process.
• Pin barrel extruders: This process performs with many pins protruding from the cylinder wall toward the screw’s center and enhances the mixing and dispersing of the rubber when it is kneaded between the screws and the cylinder. This method can be applied for diverse applications.
• Vented extruders: This process has screws of an original and unique design and it is easy to maintain and occupies very little floor space.

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29 July 2011- Many industries use rubber tubingfor various purposes. In fact, various types of rubber tubing are used for different applications. Two of such common rubber tubings are- Latex Rubber Tubing and Silicone Rubber Tubing. Both of these rubber tubing have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages on the basis of which they have their own preferences in various industries. This article aims at comparing both- the latex tubing and silicone tubing with the viewpoint of making the concerned people aware of their properties so that they might come to know – which rubber tubing- Latex tubing or Silicone tubing- is perfect for their needs.

Latex Rubber Tubing- Advantages

Rubber Tubing made from natural latex is also known as surgical tubing, exercise or fitness tube, gum rubber tubing etc. Those made with continuous dip process create superior natural latex rubber tubing. whose physical properties are better and they also have better quality and more vibrant colors than the synthetic rubber tubing or the dry natural rubber tubes. Latex rubber tubing is comparatively cheap and has relatively constant pressure. As such, they are also used for manufacturing CPS water guns. CPS stands for Constant Pressure System- a CPS is any water gun design which keeps pressure relatively constant. Latex tubing is used in many fields including medical, scientific, industrial, sports and recreation as well as for fitness therapies, especially as exercise tubing.

Latex Rubber Tubing- Disadvantages

Latex Rubber Tubing Advantages set aside, latex rubber tubing has a few disadvantages too. Some of the other disadvantages of latex rubber tubing can be listed as follows:

• The natural latex tubing, due to high protein content, is allergic unless made in the proper way. The rubber tubing manufacturers who consider lower protein levels in natural latex tubing while manufacturing them produce non allergenic latex rubber tubes.
• Latex tubing has limited number of life cycles- less than twenty for a particular tube.
• Latex tube may thin from tiny tears in the rubber.
• The potential flow is reduced by the size of a tubing barb. Smaller inner diameter tubing has higher pressures but the tube itself reduces the potential flow as the hole water must flow through is smaller. It can be cured by using tubing barbs that are a little larger than the inner diameter of the tubing.
• It is also tough to layer tubing to increase the pressure.

Silicone rubber is one of those types of rubber that are easy to cure and manufacture, cost-effective and have a consistent quality. Silicone rubber sometimes prove better than many other organic rubber types and is known for its wide range of complementary physical, mechanical and chemical properties, some of which can be listed as follows.

• High- and low-temperature stability as well as compression resistance
• Silicone rubber is flexibility
• It has better tear strength , long-term tensile strength and elongation properties
• Silicone tubings may be given varying degrees of softness and hardness
• They are chemical resistant , ozone and oxidation resistance as well as weathering and aging resistance
• ozone and oxidation resistance .
• As silicone rubber is fungus resistance, the tubings made from it are widely preferred in the medical industry.

Silicone Rubber TubingSilicone rubber is not recommended to be used in most of the concentration of solvent, oil, concentrated acid and sodium hydroxide being diluted. While silicone tubing is preferred by medical industry but there is one disadvantage of this tube which relates to its cleaning- it is difficult to clean it and the inner tube (placed inside human body) may be more difficult to reinsert than would a tube made of metal. However, it is believed that the properties of silicone rubber like that of flexibility and comfort outweigh its disadvantages. Many studies, especially in medical field, have been conducted to test the suitability of surgical rubber tubings made of latex and silicone. One of such comparisons of latex and silicone rubber T-tubes draining the common bile duct in the Rhesus monkey showed that both tubes excite an adequate local tissue reaction but latex rubber degenerated more rapidly than silicone rubber. It was suggested that silicone rubber T-tubes have a place in human biliary surgery, especially when long-term drainage of the biliary tract is needed. Also, the incidence of allergic reactions to latex is on the rise, the use of non latex alternatives such as the silicone rubber tubing is increasing.

Synthetic rubber is a man-made rubber which is produced in manufacturing plants by synthesizing it from petroleum and other minerals. Synthetic rubber is basically a polymer or an artificial polymer. It has the property of undergoing elastic stretchability or deformation under stress but can also return to its previous size without permanent deformation. This page is about different synthetic rubber types. However, before understanding the types of synthetic rubber, it is desirable to learn about the kinds of rubber available in today’s world.

Rubber Types- The Types of Rubber

Rubber is a broad term used to refer to many types of different polymers, simply called the types of rubber that are all elastomers. Being elastomers mean they can be stretched out and will return to their original shape let gone. Natural rubber is the original and the first kind of rubber to be used by man- it is still used in different forms. Other than natural rubber, all the other types of rubber are synthetic or manmade. Some of the examples of such rubber types include Polychloroprene (generally sold by the trade name Neoprene); Polybutadiene; Poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene) rubber or SBS rubber; Polyisobutylene; Silicone among others. All these kinds of rubber made of synthetic polymers have been discussed in detail later in this page. However, before knowing about all these synthetic rubber varieties, get to know what is synthetic rubber and what are its chemical types.

What is Synthetic Rubber?

Rubber in its native form is basically useless. It is only when certain chemicals are added, the rubber thus produced is used to make varied rubber products. Synthetic rubber is used as a substitute for natural rubber in many cases. Depending on the chemicals added and the properties associated with it, the synthetic rubber can be as hard as a bowling ball or as resilient as a rubber band or as soft as a sponge. When improved material properties are required, synthetic rubber is considered. Approximately 70% of all rubber used today are one from many synthetic rubber varieties.

What are the Chemical Types in Synthetic Rubber?

Synthetic rubber is artificially made from petrochemical feedstocks. Crude oil is the principal raw material for different types of rubber in synthetic category. As opposed to natural rubber where there is only one chemical type, there are approximately 20 different chemical types of synthetic rubber, and within all of the types of rubber, there are different grades. The different types of rubber, especially the synthetic rubber types have their own individual properties and advantages. The industry chooses the rubber types which most clearly meet the demands of an intended use.

As is clear from the above discussion, there are about twenty different types of chemicals used for making different synthetic rubber varities. It is obvious that there are different synthetic rubber kinds. Some of the popular synthetic rubber types include the following.

What Led to the Development of Synthetic Rubber?

During the World War II, the United States was cut off from almost all of its sources of natural rubber in the Pacific. In order to meet the country’s needs for this important material, the government built synthetic rubber plants and the manufacturing industries operated them. Synthetic rubber production increased from 8,000 tons in 1941 to 820,000 tons in 1945. After the World War II, the government sold these synthetic rubber plants to the industries. After that there is no looking back. There are different types of synthetic rubber having different properties and manufacturers and suppliers are producing different range of rubber products which are used for commercial and industrial purpose. According to a research report, the global demand for industrial rubber products is estimated to rise to 4.3% annually through 2013 to $97.8 billion. For more information, check out Rubber Industry Global Overview

How is Synthetic Rubber Produced?

Petrochemical feedstocks are the main raw material for producing synthetic rubber types. Crude oil is the principal raw material. Two types of gases too contribute in the producton of general types of rubbers in the category of synthetic rubber. These are butadien used for making Butadiene Rubber and styrene used for making Styrene Butadiene Rubber. Butadiene is a by-product of petroleum refining and styrene is captured either in the coking process or as a petroleum refining by-product. When these two gases are mixed in the presence of soapsuds in a reactor, they result into liquid latex. This is a milky liquid in which the dry rubber is coagulated into crumbs, washed, dried, and baled ready for shipment. For more details about synthetic rubber production, check out Synthetic Rubber

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The chemical industry is an industry involved in the production of chemicals. This industry includes the production of petrochemicals, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers, paints, and oleo chemicals. The chemical industry as a whole is involved in chemical processes which include chemical reactions to form new substances, separations based on properties such as solubility or ionic charge, and distillations, besides transformations by heating and other methods. It is involved in the processing of raw materials obtained by mining, agriculture among other supply sources, into materials, substances, chemical compounds that are finished products or are used in other industries.

Rubber Products in chemical industry

There are wide varieties of rubber products manufactured for a full range of Chemical Metering and Dispensing Equipment Applications. Besides the rubber products, rubber is itself used in various chemical processes. In practically all chemical plants, there are some process or reaction in which a corrosive reagent is used or produced. Hard rubber of suitable compound is chemically inert to a high degree and is used in connection with a great many corrosive materials. Essentially, hard rubber is rubber compounded with a relatively high percentage of sulfur. Many laboratory tests have been made in which hard rubber has been mixed in various chemicals for long periods of time. Various chemical acids like sulfuric acid , nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, acetic, hydrofluoric, phosphoric acids, sodium and potassium salts, zinc chloride, calcium chloride, and many others, as well as corrosive gases, such as chlorine, hydrochloric acid gas, etc. use hard rubber in their chemical processing. Hard rubber is also attacked by most rubber solvents, such as benzene, carbon disulfide, and chloroform, which soften and swell the rubber.

• Whenever designing a custom stamp for your company, never compromise on its quality because in the end it is the most…

  Read More

• Many industries use rubber tubing for various purposes. In fact, various types of rubber tubing are used for different applications…

  Read More

• Silicon and acrylic adhesives are those rubber adhesives that are widely used in Polyimide tapes. In fact, the polyimide…

  Read More

• Whenever designing a custom stamp for your company, never compromise on its quality because in the end it is the most…

  Read More

• Many industries use rubber tubing for various purposes. In fact, various types of rubber tubing are used for different applications…

  Read More

• Silicon and acrylic adhesives are those rubber adhesives that are widely used in Polyimide tapes. In fact, the polyimide…

  Read More