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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 compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia are four of the leading rubber producers.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, RVs, race cars, and heavy off-road machinery. It also licenses the Goodyear brand to bicycle tires manufacturers, returning from a break in production between 1976 and 2015. As of 2017, Goodyear is one of the top four tire manufacturers along with Bridgestone (Japan), Michelin (France), and Continental (Germany).
Parthenium argentatum, commonly known as the guayule, is a perennial woody shrub in the family Asteraceae that is native to the rangeland area of the Chihuahuan Desert; including the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It was first documented by J.M. Bigelow in 1852 through the Mexican Boundary Survey and was first described by Asa Gray. Natural rubber, ethanol, non-toxic adhesives, and other specialty chemicals can be extracted from guayule. An alternative source of latex that is hypoallergenic, unlike the normal Hevea rubber, can also be extracted. While Castilla elastica was the most widely used rubber source of Mesoamericans in pre-Columbian times, guayule was also used, though less frequently. The name "guayule" derives from the Nahuatl word ulli/olli, "rubber".
Castilla elastica, the Panama rubber tree, is a tree native to the tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It was the principal source of latex among the Mesoamerican peoples in pre-Columbian times. The latex gathered from Castilla elastica was converted into usable rubber by mixing the latex with the juice of the morning glory species Ipomoea alba which, conveniently, is typically found in the wild as a vine climbing Castilla elastica. The rubber produced by this method found several uses, including most notably, the manufacture of balls for the Mesoamerican ballgame ōllamaliztli.
Latex is an emulsion of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well.
Taraxacum kok-saghyz, often abbreviated as TKS and commonly referred to as the Kazakh dandelion, rubber root, or Russian dandelion, is a species of dandelion native to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, notable for its production of high-quality rubber. T. kok-saghyz was discovered in Kazakhstan in 1932 by Soviet scientists seeking a domestic source of rubber.
Yulex Corporation makes products from Guayule a residual agricultural material.
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The Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award is a professional award conferred by the ACS Rubber Division. Established in 1983, the award is named after Melvin Mooney, developer of the Mooney viscometer and of the Mooney-Rivlin hyperelastic law. The award consists of an engraved plaque and prize money. The medal honors individuals "who have exhibited exceptional technical competency by making significant and repeated contributions to rubber science and technology".
David Spence was one of the pioneering rubber chemists. He helped the war effort during the Second World War by devising new ways of extracting natural rubbers from plants, and worked to improve the processing of the rubber. Over the course of his career, he worked to improve the dyeing processes for rubber products and the vulcanization of rubber, and in developing new accelerants for strengthening lower-quality natural rubber. In 1941, he became the first recipient of the Charles Goodyear Medal, awarded by the American Chemical Society.
Lorin Beryl Sebrell was an American scientist at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. noted for identifying mercaptobenzothiazole as a vulcanization accelerator. In 1942, Sebrell received the Charles Goodyear Medal.
Russell A. Livigni is a rubber industry scientist and executive noted for his discovery and development of high trans styrene-butadiene rubber, a crystallizing rubber that provides superior oxidation resistance relative to natural rubber.
Joseph A. Kuczkowski is a retired Goodyear scientist, noted for successfully explaining the mechanisms of antioxidant and antiozonant function, and for commercial development of new antiozonant systems and improvement of the stability of polymeric materials.
Edward Arthur Murphy was a Dunlop researcher credited with the invention of latex foam, first marketed as Dunlopillo.
The Manzanar Guayule Project began in April 1942, in the Manzanar internment camp. The objective of the project was to produce a domestic source of rubber after the Axis powers had gained control of areas that supplied rubber from Hevea braziliensis. The project was operated by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists and led by Robert Emerson. Japanese Americans made up the primary workforce and were responsible for the successes and achievements of the project. Several scientific articles on guayule were published as a result. The project was ended by government order towards the end of World War II along with other similar projects like the Salinas project.
Prof. Yasuyuki Tanaka was a Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology professor noted for elucidating the molecular structure of natural rubber, and for his work in synthetic rubber.
William J. van Ooij is a retired University of Cincinnati professor known for elucidating the mechanisms of brass-rubber adhesion in tires, and as the founder of corrosion resistant coatings company Ecosil Technologies
Maria D. Ellul is a retired ExxonMobil materials scientist known for her contributions to and development of commercial polyolefin and polyamide specialty thermoplastic elastomers, and recognized as one of the first prominent women scientists in the rubber industry.
Wilma K. Dierkes is a University of Twente Associate Professor and chair of the Elastomer Technology and Engineering group known for her research on elastomer sustainability.
Howard A. Colvin is an organic chemist and consultant to the tire and rubber industries noted for developments in rubber chemicals and polymers, and for his DOE-funded work on using guayule rubber in tires.
References
- ↑ Cottrill, Sam (17 November 2023). "Katrina Cornish named 2024 Charles Goodyear Medalist". Rubber News. Crain. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- ↑ Mooibroek, H.; Cornish, K. (2000). "Alternative sources of natural rubber". Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 53 (4): 355–365. doi:10.1007/s002530051627. PMID 10803889. S2CID 5580803.
- ↑ "Women in Tire & Rubber: Katrina Cornish". Rubber News. Crain. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
- ↑ "Speeding Natural Rubber Production". Agricultural Research magazine. US Department of Agriculture. March 1995. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
- ↑ Wood, Marcia A. (January 22, 1997). "Guayule Latex Process Is Licensed". US Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
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