Natural Vs Vulcanized Rubber
Uncured natural rubber is sticky, deforms easily when warm, and is brittle when cold. In this state, it is a poor material when a high level of elasticity is required. The reason for inelastic deformation of un-vulcanized rubber can be found in its chemical structure: rubber is composed of long polymer chains. These chains can move independently relative to each other, which lets the material change shape. Crosslinking introduced by vulcanization prevents the polymer chains from moving independently. As a result, when stress is applied the vulcanized rubber deforms, but upon release of the stress, the article reverts to its original shape.
Read more about this topic: Vulcanization
Famous quotes containing the words natural and/or rubber:
“The unreal is natural, so natural that it makes of unreality the most natural of anything natural. That is what America does, and that is what America is.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“First, are you our sort of a person?
Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,
A brace or a hook,
Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch,
Stitches to show something’s missing?”
—Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)