Natural rubber
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Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, caucho, or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic c
Pieces of natural vulcanized rubber at Hutchinson's Research and Innovation Center in France
Latex being collected from a tapped rubber tree, Cameroon
Rubber tree plantation in Thailand
"Enslaved natives with a load of rubber weighing 75 kilos; they have journeyed 100 kilometers with no food given"
Vulcanization
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Vulcanization is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur and heat, which remains the most common practice. I
Natural rubber
…modeled as hyperelastic. Rubber strain crystallizes. Because there are weakened allylic C–H bonds in each repeat unit, natural rubber is susceptible to vulcanisation as well as being sensitive to ozone cracking. The two main solvents for rubber are turpentine and naphtha (petroleum). Because rubber does not dissolve…
Worker placing a tire in a mold before vulcanization, 1941
Roller hockey ball created via vulcanization
Two factory workers placing rubber tubing into a vulcaniser (1918)
An example of a silicone rubber keypad typical of liquid silicone rubber (LSR) moulding