November 22, 2023 By Rheometer Spares Off

100+ Fun Rubber Facts

Rubber is a fascinating material that has been used for centuries in countless products and industries. From car tyres to elastic bands, rubber is an essential component in modern-day life. But did you know that rubber has a rich history and a variety of fun and interesting facts associated with it? In this article, we will explore over 100 fun rubber facts that you may not have known before. Get ready to expand your knowledge and appreciation for this versatile material!

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 1 — RS Facts #001 - Although native to the Amazon rainforest, the rubber-producing tree hevea brasiliensis is most commonly grown in Southeast Asia.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 2 — RS Facts #002 - Synthetic rubbers are chemically optimised to perform in the most demanding environments

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 3 — RS Facts #003 - The Kazakh dandelion and guayule are two of the most promising alternatives to natural rubber.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 4 — RS Facts #004 - In the 1890s, the change from solid to pneumatic bicycle tyres led to the first rubber boom.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 5 — RS Facts #005 - The distinctive crepe rubber sole is an iconic feature of Desert, or Chukka, Boots. The light-coloured rubber is made by rolling out coagulated latex into crinkled sheets.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 6 — RS Facts #006 - Reclaimed rubber involves a devulcanisation process to revert cured rubber to its original form, from which it can be used again.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 7 — RS Facts #007 - Recycled rubber is incorporated into road surfaces to increase flexibility and longevity

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 8 — RS Facts #008 - Elastomeric isolators can help shield buildings from seismic vibrations

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 9 — RS Facts #009 - It is estimated that up to 30% of microplastics in the ocean are from rubber sources

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 10 — RS Facts #010 - Rubber is used in more than 40,000 consumer products worldwide

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 11 — RS Facts #011 - Ultra-thin graphene layers can be sprayed onto rubber to enhance its physical properties

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 12 — RS Facts #012 - Space exploration could not occur without the refinement and development of specialist synthetic rubbers

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 13 — RS Facts #013 - Rubber can be engineered to withstand extreme temperature, pressure, vibrations, chemical contact and friction

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 14 — RS Facts #014 - Many acoustic applications take advantage of the acoustic impedance match between rubber and water

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 15 — RS Facts #015 - Submarines are coated in rubber "acoustic tiles" to amplify sonar echo via constructive interference

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 16 — RS Facts #016 - Sonar bow domes are the largest moulded rubber articles in the world, weighing over 8000kg

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 17 — RS Facts #017 - Buildings can be sprayed with elastomers to mitigate the damage caused by blasts and explosions

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 18 — RS Facts #018 - High temperatures during takeoff and landing make natural rubber the ideal material for aircraft tyres

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 19 — RS Facts #019 - Elastomer fabrics are used for hovercraft skirts that hang to guide the airflow downwards

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 20 — RS Facts #020 - The ability of elastomers to store energy makes them ideal materials for sealing purposes

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 21 — RS Facts #021 - Rubber can very effectively function as an energy storage device due to its ability to store and quickly return a large energy density

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 22 — RS Facts #022 - Inflated natural rubber discs can create enough acceleration to launch submarine torpedos

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 23 — RS Facts #023 - In 2020, the US Postal Service ordered more than 730 million rubber bands.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 24 — RS Facts #024 - Rubber is naturally white, and is only made black by the addition of various chemicals, such as carbon black.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 25 — RS Facts #025 - In 2019, China consumed more than 5.5 million tonnes of natural rubber.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 26 — RS Facts #026 - Keds, the iconic rubber-soled canvas shoes, were created by the United States Rubber Company in 1910.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 27 — RS Facts #027 - NASA's work in fuel-related cryogenics helped develop processes for recycling tyres into rubber crumb.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 28 — RS Facts #028 - In Europe there are more than 6000 companies producing rubber goods.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 29 — RS Facts #029 - 65% of produced rubber goods are destined for the automotive industry.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 30 — RS Facts #030 - Household appliances, industrial applications and the energy/offshore industry account for 30% of the rubber goods market.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 31 — RS Facts #031 - There is currently no universal substitute for natural rubber that could be used in all its applications.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 32 — RS Facts #032 - More than 20% of natural rubber used in the EU is sourced from Africa.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 33 — RS Facts #033 - Natural rubber is now recognised as a Critical Raw Material by the EU.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 34 — RS Facts #034 - Developed by DuPont in the 1930s, Neoprene was one the first synthetic rubbers to hit the market.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 35 — RS Facts #035 - Purity, inertness and biocompatibility are major considerations when choosing a rubber for medical applications.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 36 — RS Facts #036 - Polymer adhesives are often stronger, more flexible and have greater impact resistance than other forms of adhesive.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 37 — RS Facts #037 - Rubber seals destined for the oil and gas industry are designed to withstand the most extreme conditions

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 38 — RS Facts #038 - Polymers are often specified according to temperature, application, media, pressure, size and speed (TAMPSS).

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 39 — RS Facts #039 - Used by the indigenous population of South America, Caoutchouc is one of the original words for rubber.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 40 — RS Facts #040 - Each year, recycling prevents more than 100 million tyres heading to landfill.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 41 — RS Facts #041 - Ambient shredding and cryogenic processing are the two primary methods of rubber recycling.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 42 — RS Facts #042 - Crumb rubber is the most common end product of the rubber recycling process.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 43 — RS Facts #043 - Shock absorber cord, such as "bungee" cord, is made from natural rubber strands encased in a braided cover of woven cotton cords.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 44 — RS Facts #044 - Silicone rubbers are a group of plastic rubber materials made from silicon, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 45 — RS Facts #045 - Rubber seals are used to prevent the entrance of dirt, water, or air, and to prevent the loss of fluids, gases, or air.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 46 — RS Facts #046 - Many elastomers can be made electrically conductive, for use in gaskets, touchpads and other electrical simulation devices.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 47 — RS Facts #047 - Supply, weather, consumption, currency exchange, policy changes, crude oil prices and speculative forces all affect the price of natural rubber.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 48 — RS Facts #048 - Rubber has a low modulus of elasticity and is capable of withstanding a deformation of up to 1000%.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 49 — RS Facts #049 - The average annual yield for a latex rubber tree is 19 pounds (8.6 kg).

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 50 — RS Facts #050 - Christopher Columbus is credited with "discovering" natural rubber in 1493 while in Haiti.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 51 — RS Facts #051 - Until the turn of the 20th century, the countries of the Amazon basin controlled 90% of the rubber export market.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 52 — RS Facts #052 - Early ‘rubber technologists’ used rubber for shoe soles, coated fabrics and playballs well over 2,000 years ago.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 53 — RS Facts #053 - The Aztec king, Montezuma, was given 16,000 rubber balls as tribute by the local lowland tribes.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 54 — RS Facts #054 - Archaeologists have discovered rubber ball courts in Snake town, south-western USA, dating back to AD 600-900.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 55 — RS Facts #055 - The English chemist, J.B. Priestly, is accredited with naming rubber after his observation that it ‘rubbed’ out pencil marks.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact #056 — RS Facts #056 - In the world of rubber, the words vulcanisation, cure and cross-linking are used synonymously.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 57 — RS Facts #057 - Charles Goodyear was a 19th century pioneer who discovered that by combining sulphur and heat, natural rubber could be vulcanised.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 58 — RS Facts #058 - The first commercially successful pneumatic tyre was developed by John Dunlop in England, 1889.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 59 — RS Facts #059 - Since the early 20th century, carbon black has been added to natural rubber to significantly increase its mechanical properties.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 60 — RS Facts #060 - Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) took off as the primary alternative to natural rubber following the outbreak of the Second World War.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 61 — RS Facts #061 - Polyisoprene, the synthetic analogue of natural rubber, was not successfully commercialised until the 1960s.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 62 — RS Facts #062 - Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) behave like rubber at room temperature but soften like plastic when heated.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 63 — RS Facts #063 - As a renewable resource, natural rubber has an environmental advantage over synthetic elastomers that are derived from petroleum oil-based materials.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 64 — RS Facts #064 - The French word for rubber, ‘caoutchouc’, is derived from the South American Indian word meaning ‘weeping wood’.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 65 — RS Facts #065 - To make a rubber product, the primary raw material, a polymer, is mixed with chemicals to form a rubber ‘compound’, which is subsequently vulcanised.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 66 — RS Facts #066 - The nature of the raw gum elastomer is the main driving force behind the material properties of the final rubber compound.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 67 — RS Facts #067 - Compared to the wealth of information available for metals, there is little mechanical engineering data for most rubber compounds.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 68 — RS Facts #068 - In determining temperature limits for rubber compounds, it is necessary to describe whether the exposure is short-term or continuous.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 69 — RS Facts #069 - The chemical resistance of rubber depends upon both the concentration and temperature of the chemical encountered.

Rheometer Spares Rubber Fact 70 — RS Facts #070 - For most elastomers, degradation speeds up with temperature. For example, ozone resistance will decrease as the temperature rises.

Scroll through the 100+ facts in the gallery, or explore the table below. New facts added each month!

[table id=16 /]

CategoryUncategorized