Vulcanized rubber is made more durable through a biochemical process called vulcanization, discovered by Charles Goodyear in 1839. It combines rubber and sulfur under high pressure and temperature, making it more stable, harder, and resistant to heat. Vulcanized rubber is used in various products, including automobile tires, gaskets, belts, shoe soles, and hockey pucks.
Vulcanized rubber is an elastomer that has been made more durable through vulcanization, a biochemical process. The milky latex of a rubber tree is combined with a hardening ingredient, usually sulfur, and heated under pressure.
The vulcanization process was discovered by the American inventor Charles Goodyear in 1839. Vulcanization makes rubber more stable, harder and more resistant to heat, so it becomes more useful for industrial purposes and certain products. The term “vulcanized” comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking.
Vulcanization: making rubber stronger
Before the discovery of vulcanization, natural rubber was coagulated with acid and made malleable so that it could be shaped and formed. However, at high temperatures, the rubber would become sticky or melt, while at low temperatures, the rubber would become brittle. These qualities have made rubber impractical to use in industrial settings.
Vulcanization chemically combines rubber and sulfur. Under high pressure and high temperatures, sulfur atoms form bonds between long chains of rubber molecules. This increases the strength and durability of the rubber and reduces its stickiness. It also allows rubber to retain its elasticity over a much wider range of temperatures, making vulcanized rubber much more useful for various applications.
The development of vulcanized rubber
Charles Goodyear had been experimenting with rubber for several years before discovering vulcanization. A former hardware store owner with no scientific training or knowledge of chemicals, Goodyear ran into debt while looking for a way to make rubber more stable and durable. The discovery of him is often said to have been by accident, after a mixture of sulfur and rubber-rubber splashed on a hot stove had formed a hardened material. Goodyear, however, said it was not accidental but rather the result of a series of experiments and observations.
Goodyear has sent samples of its cured rubber to British rubber manufacturers. An Englishman named Thomas Hancock, who had been trying to make weatherproof rubber for 20 years, saw one of the samples and noticed the telltale yellowish powdery residue of sulfur on the sample’s surface. Hancock reinvented the process in 1843, four years after Goodyear.
Goodyear was granted the United States patent for this process in 1844, but when he applied for the British patent, he found that Hancock had beaten it. The term “vulcanized rubber” does not come from Goodyear, but was actually coined by a friend of Hancock’s.
Did you know that? The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, a well-known manufacturer of automobile tires and other rubber products, was founded by Frank Seiberling in 1898. It was named in honor of Charles Goodyear, although there is no family connection.
Applications of vulcanized rubber
Vulcanized rubber is currently used in a wide variety of products. Among the most common are:
automobile tires
rubber gaskets and seals
Transmission belts
shoe soles
hockey pucks
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