NATURAL

RUBBER
Gift of nature
Significant influence on the
quality of human life
A green commodity
A relatively short history
Provides livelihood to over 10
million small farmers

NATURAL
RUBBER

SALIENT FEATURES

Major source-Hevea brasiliensis

Total global production (2004) million tonnes

8.24

Total consumption (2004) million tonnes

8.11

Production in over 20 countries

Major producing
countries :
Thailand,Indonesia
Malaysia,India,China,
Vietnam
Major consuming
countries :
China,USA,Japan,
India,Malaysia,Korea

Special characteristics of NR

High strength
Low heat generation
High tack and green strength
Excellent processability
Excellent resistance to chipping, chunking and tear
Economy
Relatively inferior resistance to ageing, weathering and
heat
Swells in contact with petroleum oils
High air permeability
Relatively inferior traction and wet skid resistance

RUBBER PLANTATION
CROP (RUBBER)

Field coagulum
20 %

Latex
80 %

Marketable forms of raw rubber

Ribbed sheet rubber

Concentrated latex
Block rubber
Crepe rubber

Typewise production of NR in India (2002-03)

Type

Quantity (MT)

% Share

RSS

450215

69.3

Latex concentrate (DRC)

74325

11.5

Solid block rubber

74940

11.5

Pale Latex Crepe

1750

Others

48205

Total

649435

7.7

NATURAL RUBBER
INDUSTRIAL RAW MATERIAL FROM NATURE
SYNTHESISED BY THE TREE
UNDEGRADED TILL IT COME IN CONTACT
WITH AIR
CIS-POLY-ISOPRENE

NATURAL RUBBER
MARKETABLE FORMS
SHEET RUBBER (RSS)
CREPE RUBBER
TECHNICALLY SPECIFIED RUBBER (TSR)
LATEX CONCENTRATES

NATURAL RUBBER SHEET

RUBBER
LOWER PROCESSING COST
SIMPLE MACHINERY
ADOPTED BY SMALL GROWER SECTOR

STEPS INVOLVED IN SHEET RUBBER PROCESSING

Sieving
Bulking
Dilution
Coagulation
Sheeting
Drying
Grading

Ribbed Smoked Sheet

Grades
RSS IX

Colour

RSS 1

Extent of dryness

RSS 2

Mould growth

RSS 3

Tackiness

RSS 4

Blisters

RSS 5

Dirt

CREPE RUBBERS
Field coagulum crepe
Pale latex crepe

PALE LATEX CREPE

Removal of pigments
Fractional coagulation
Bleaching

PALE LATEX CREPE Defects

Fungal spots Brown discolouration
Grey or dark colour
White spots and streaks
Tackiness
Poor lamination strength

PALE LATEX CREPE

-Applications
Pharmaceutical products
Light coloured and transparent goods
Adhesives
Tapes
Tubings
Derivatives such as chlorinated rubber

TECHNICALLY SPECIFIED RUBBER

LATEX GRADES
FIELD COAGULUM GRADES

TECHNICALLY SPECIFIED RUBBER

SPECIFICATION PARAMETERS
DIRT
VOLATILE MATTER
PLASTICITY
PLASTICITY RETENTION INDEX (PRI)
NITROGEN CONTENT
ASH CONTNET

TSR PRODUCTION FC GRADES

Soaking

Initial size reduction Pre-breaker

Blending

Creping

Final size reduction Hammer mill

Drying

Pressing
Testing and Grading

Packing

TECHNICALLY SPECIFIED RUBBER ADVANTAGES

The consumer has the choice

More consistent
Impurities can be assessed
Being marketed in compact polyethylene wrapped
bales, contamination on storage handling and
transportation is minimum.
Minimum storage space
Reduction in processing time

TECHNICALLY SPECIFIED RUBBER

ISNR 3CV

ISNR 3L

ISNR 5
ISNR 10,
20
ISNR 50

Tyres,
Engineering
components, extruded and
calendared products
Light coloured pharmaceutical
feeding bottle teats, Industrial
rollers for paper and printing
industry
Conveyor belts, cycle tubes,
engine mountings, footwear
Tyre
Handmade

hose,

footwear,

NR Quality Issues
Consistency
Contamination
Undried rubber
Packaging

NR Quality Issues Consistency

NR is subject to inherent variability
Variation in plasticity to be minimum

NR Quality Issues Contamination

Rubber gets contaminated during tapping,
collection, processing and packaging
The contaminants do not disperse during
compounding.

NR Quality Issues Undried rubber

Undried rubber prevents effective dispersion
of ingredients during compounding
Cause blisters

TSR production in India

Only 13% of total NR production

Mainly from field coagulum
Proper attention is not given to the collection
and storage of the raw material

The storage of the field

coagulum
Often stored in the wet conditions
Contaminated with sand and bark
particles and other foreign matter
Polythene and jute sack fragments,
plastic cord/ metallic strings

Inferior raw material results in

Lower quality of TSR
Non-uniformity and inconsistency in quality
Lower resistance to thermo-oxidative degradation

OBSERVATIONS
The oxidizability of raw rubber has an important
bearing on the processing behaviour and
vulcanizate performance
The plasticity retention index (PRI) test gives a
rapid assessment of the resistance of raw NR to
thermo-oxidative degradation

OBSERVATIONS
Po of autocoagulated rubber increases on storage
The PRI of autocoagulated rubbers are lower than the
acid coagulated rubbers
PRI falls as the length of time from coagulation and
processing is increased
In many cases due to low PRI the rubber may fail to
meet the requirements specified for a particular grade.
Hence it is very essential to preserve Po & PRI of the raw
material.

MECHANISM
Onemajor
majorreason
reasonfor
forthe
thelow
lowPRI
PRIof
offield
field
One
coagulumduring
duringstorage
storageisisthe
thebacterial
bacterial
coagulum
decompositionof
ofproteins
proteinsand
andother
othernon
nonrubber
rubber
decomposition
constituentsin
inthe
therubber.
rubber.
constituents
Copperin
infresh
freshlatex
latexmight
mightcomplex
complexwith
with
Copper
proteinsand
andamino
aminoacids
acidsand
andin
inthis
thisform
formititdoes
does
proteins
notimpart
impartany
anyadverse
adverseeffect
effecton
onthe
theageing
ageingof
of
not
NR.
NR.
Whenthe
thelatex
latexisisexposed
exposedto
tomicrobial
microbialactivity
activity
When
themicrobes
microbesdegrade
degradethe
thecomplex
complexand
andrelease
release
the
freecopper
copperwhich
whichisisreported
reportedto
tobe
beaapowerful
powerful
free
pro-oxidant.
pro-oxidant.

The degradation
degradation of
of the
the field
field coagulum
coagulum during
during
The
storage can
can be
be prevented
prevented by
by treating
treating the
the fresh
fresh
storage
coagulum with
with aa suitable
suitable bactericide.
bactericide.
coagulum
Formalin was
was identified
identified to
to be
be the
the best
best
Formalin
bactericide for
for the
the above
above purpose
purpose
bactericide

The following aspects were studied.

Effect of concentration of
formalin solution
The optimum soaking period.
The effect of period of storage
of the treated coagulum.

Effect
Effect of
of formalin
formalin concentration
concentration on
on Po
Po &
& PRI
PRI
80

Po/PRI

70

PRI

60

PRI
Po

Po

50
40
30
0

0.25

0.5

0.75

Formalin concentration (%)

1.25

Effect of soaking period on Po & PRI

80

Po/PRI

70

PRI
Po

60
50
40
30
0

10

12

Time of immersion, h

14

16

18

Effect of formalin treatment on Po

60

Po

50

40

Treated
Untreated

30
0

10

20

Storage period, days

30

40

Effect of formalin treatment on Mooney

viscosity
Mooney viscosity

92

90

Treated

88

Untreated
86
0

10

20

Storage period (days)

30

40

Effect of formalin treatment on PRI

80

70

PRI

Treated
Untreate
d

60

50
0

10

20

Storage period, days

30

40

It was
was observed
observed that
that soaking
soaking the
the
It
field coagulum
coagulum in
in 1%
1% formalin
formalin
field
solution for
for aa period
period of
of 16
16 hours
hours
solution
gives sufficient
sufficient protection
protection against
against
gives
bacterial degradation
degradation
bacterial

Preparation of Formalin solution

Add 100ml of formalin to 10 litres of water

Prepare the required quantity of Formalin
solution as above
Soak the field coagulum in the solution for one
day
Transfer the coagulum from the solution on the
next day
The same solution can be used after filtering for
treatment of the next days crop. Extra quantity of
Formalin solution should be added to soak the
coagulum completely

Farmer
Group processing facility
Block Rubber processing
unit

The crop
crop (field
(field coagulum
coagulum and
and latex
latex coagulum)
coagulum)
The
from the
the Central
Central Experimental
Experimental Station,
Station, Ranni
Ranni
from
being subjected
subjected to
to the
the above
above treatment
treatment and
and
isis being
the material
material isis processed
processed at
at the
the Pilot
Pilot Crumb
Crumb
the
Rubber Factory,
Factory,
Rubber
treated material
material
treated

RRII since
since
RRII
brought
isis brought

Jan 2004.
2004. The
The
Jan
to the
the factory
factory
to

normally within
within aa period
period of
of 15-25
15-25 days
days
normally

Effect of formalin treatment on the

quality of Block Rubber (PCRF)

80

Percentage of production

70
60
50

2002-03

40

2004-05

30
20
10
0
ISNR 10

ISNR 20

ISNR 50

OFF

Based on
on the
the data
data available
available for
for one
one year
year the
the
Based
cost of
of the
the treatment
treatment has
has been
been worked
worked out
out to
to
cost
be Rs
Rs 70/
70/ tonne
tonne of
of rubber
rubber
be

Environmental issues.

The effect
effect of
of residual
residual formalin
formalin ifif any,
any, on
on the
the
The
effluent Treatment
Treatment System
System of
of the
the factory
factory isis being
being
effluent
studied
studied
The workers
workers handling
handling the
the field
field coagulum
coagulum at
at CES
CES
The
have been
been supplied
supplied with
with hand
hand gloves.
gloves. No
No
have
complaints have
have been
been so
so far
farregistered
registered
complaints
The treated
treated field
field coagulum
coagulum provided
provided aa more
more
The
hygienic environment
environment in
in the
the collection
collection
hygienic
centres.The mosquitoes
mosquitoes and
and flies
flies are
are virtually
virtually
centres.The
absent
absent

NATURAL RUBBER MODIFIED

FORMS
Viscosity Stabilized Rubber
Deproteinised Natural Rubber
Superior Processing Rubber
Epoxidised Natural Rubber
Chlorinated Rubber

EPOXIDISED NATURAL RUBBER

Gas impermeability
Resistance to hydrocarbon oils
Increased damping and good bonding

DEPROTEINISED NATURAL
RUBBER
Electrical and Engineering Applications
Reduced creep and stress relaxation

CHLORINATED RUBBER
Adhesives
Paints
Printing inks
Paper coating

SUPERIOR PROCESSING RUBBER

Low die swell, better finish
Can be effectively blended with synthetic
rubbers like EPDM, SBR.
Allows wide range of extrusion temperatures
and roll speeds.