100 years of synthetic rubber
von Heinz Gupta
On 12 September 2009, Lanxess, the successor company to Bayer AG, which has taken over its’ rubber activities, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the invention of synthetic rubber.
Granted, it was polymethylisoprene that Fritz Hofmann polymerised to produce a rubber in 1909 and, from which Conti actually made tyres which, it is said, were used by Kaiser Wilhelm on his car.
But this rubber was not exactly the holy grail in terms of processability. It was not until the inventions of Walter Bock and Eduard Tschunkur, 20 years later, brought butadiene rubber (Buna) and immediately afterwards styrene butadiene rubber onto the market. These materials could be processed easily and delivered excellent products. This was the beginning of the real triumph of synthetic rubber worldwide.
So maybe Lanxess can celebrate another anniversary in 20 years time.
The words of Heraclitus, “war is the father of all things” can be safely applied to the invention of synthetic rubber.
Germany was, however, cut off from the free supply of natural rubber by the English naval blockade, especially during the first world war, 1914 – 1918, so that even U-boats were employed to transport this essential industrial war material.
After the first world war industry was recovering not only in Germany but also in other European countries and the United States and all needed rubber urgently.
So the invention of synthetic rubber enabled Germany to break England’s natural rubber monopoly, as England in turn had previously broken the Brazilian Amazonian natural rubber monopoly.
After it was understood how rubber elasticity could be manufactured, a boom in the invention of new rubbers started worldwide, or more precisely in Germany and the USA. Different monomers were combined and rubbers with properties completely different from NR and SBR were created: nitrile butadiene rubber, chloroprene rubber, acrylate rubbers, fluoro rubbers, silicone rubbers, ethylene propylene rubber.
The property they all have in common is their rubbery elasticity, but all have, depending on their molecular composition and structure, different resistance to chemicals and environmental influences. Whereas the first synthetic rubber was intended as a replacement for natural rubber, the new synthetic rubbers with their new characteristics found very different applications.
This rapid development might well be compared with the explosive development in telecommunications, which most people nowadays have for the most part experienced themselves.
Most of our fellow human beings have no idea in how many different ways they come directly or indirectly in contact with rubber - natural or synthetic rubber.
It is certainly not clear to them in how many various forms rubber products can appear.
Be it condoms or tractor tyres, oil rig hoses or garden hoses, whether it be specialised latex clothing for specific professions or diving suits, weather balloons or shoe soles, rubber truncheons and padded cells and so on and so on. Not to mention the many elastomeric products in automobiles, machine construction and house building.
It is to be hoped that the World Rubber Day served not only the exchange of mutual adulation between those in the know, but for many people opened a door to knowledge about rubber.
Your Heinz Gupta