The century-old history of the world rubber industry can be roughly divided into four stages: formation period, development period, prosperity period and stable development period.
As early as 1 1 century, people in South America began to use wild natural rubber.
1736, C. Condamine, a Frenchman, participated in the investigation of South America by the French Academy of Sciences, and observed that the milk of rubber clover could solidify into elastic substances. Later, the rubber samples of the wild rubber tree in the Amazon River basin were sent back to Paris, which began to attract the attention of Europeans.
1823 C. McIntosh established the first waterproof tape factory in Britain. At the same time, T. Hancock, an Englishman, found that rubber can be processed repeatedly through the gap between two rotating rollers, reducing elasticity and improving plasticity. This discovery laid the foundation for rubber processing. He is recognized as the pioneer of rubber industry in the world.
In 1839, American C. Goodyear found that the heat of rubber and sulfur can greatly increase the elasticity of rubber, and it is no longer sticky when heated, thus making rubber have good properties. The discovery of rubber vulcanization method has played a key role in promoting the application of rubber. /kloc-in the middle of the 0/9th century, the rubber industry has begun to take shape. It has been able to produce adhesive tapes, rubber shoes, rubber hoses, rubber sheets and some daily necessities.
Development period 65438+the end of the 9th century, the appearance of automobiles and automobile tires promoted the vigorous development of rubber industry.
1845, an Englishman, R.W. Thomson, put forward the patent of pneumatic tire for the first time.
1888, British J.B. Dunlop made the first pneumatic bicycle tire. 1895 the first pneumatic automobile tire came out. Soon, automobile tires began commercial production. In order to improve the performance of tires and other rubber products,1893 J.F. Palmer used the cord fabric (see cord) for bicycle tires.
1900 cord fabric began to be used in automobile tires.
1906, G. Ernorag of the United States uses aniline as vulcanization accelerator.
1912 s.c. Mott discovered the reinforcing effect of carbon black. Soon, antioxidants were also used in rubber processing. 19 16 F.H. banbury put forward the patent of rubber mixer (see plastic mixer), and the rubber processing machinery has been improved and developed accordingly. Rubber processing technology has made great progress in this period.
With the rapid development of rubber industry, the performance and output of the original wild natural rubber can no longer meet the needs. Artificial cultivation of natural rubber began in the middle and late19th century. By the 1920s and 1930s, cultivated natural rubber has gradually replaced wild rubber and become the main source of natural rubber. During the First World War, due to the shortage of natural rubber, Germany began to produce methyl rubber in small quantities, which was mainly used to make hard rubber products. The price of this synthetic rubber was very high, and production stopped after the war.
Commercial production of synthetic rubber began in 1930s, and polybutadiene rubber (namely sodium butadiene rubber), chloroprene rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, nitrile rubber and butyl rubber were put into production one after another. During the Second World War, due to the demand for strategic materials, the production of synthetic rubber and war-related rubber products, such as automobile tires, aircraft tires and various military vehicle tires, has been greatly developed.
During the prosperous period after World War II, automobile and other industries in developed countries developed vigorously, which promoted the great development of the world rubber industry.
1943, steel cord tire came out, 1948, French Michelin company successfully trial-produced radial tire. In the same year, tubeless tires also came out.
Stereotactic synthetic rubber was successfully developed in 1953. From 65438 to 0956, stereoregular synthetic rubber began to be used in tires, which can replace some natural rubber to some extent.
From 65438 to 0965, thermoplastic rubber was used for rubber overshoes and adhesives. 1970, the first batch of cast tires (using polyurethane rubber) was born.
1972, aramid cord was put into production. This series of major technological breakthroughs provided raw materials and technical basis for the great development of rubber industry.
In the early 1970s, the production technology of rubber processing and rubber synthesis reached an unprecedented height. In terms of rubber consumption, the world rubber consumption was 2.3 mt in 1950, and reached 10.89Mt in 1973. 1950, the world total tire output was140 million sets, while 1973, it soared to 650 million sets. The output of other rubber products reached a high level in the early 1970s. This is the fastest developing period of rubber industry in the world.