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Natural Latex
Natural latex is extracted from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree. Is a milky and viscous substance with a high content of rubber in aqueous suspension. After being centrifuged and treated, it is stored and transported in a semi-liquid form. Natural latex for commercial use is then selected according to the amount of ammonia and/or chemicals that are added for its preservation.
Features
Due to its properties, natural latex is used in a wide range of industrial sectors such as gloves and other immersion products, elastic thread, clothing, footwear, adhesive materials, automotive and bedding.
Harvest
Field latex is extracted from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree through tapping. It is then made suitable for manufacturing by increasing the amount of natural rubber via centrifugation. The centrifuged latex must be added with preservative substances (mainly ammonia) to preserve its colloidal stability and inhibit the attack of bacteria.
Types
LATZ Latex
Low Ammonia Centrifuged Latex 60% DRC (Dry Rubber Content)
HA Latex
High Ammonia Centrifuged Latex 60% DRC (Dry Rubber Content)
Special Latexes
LATZ 60% DRC
Low Ammonia Centrifuged Latex
LATZ is stabilized with a maximum ammonia content of 0.29%. The lower ammonia content is compensated by using Tetramethyltiuramdisulphide (TMTD) and zinc oxide (ZnO). It is used in all cases where a lower quantity of ammonia is preferable.
HA 60% DRC
High Ammonia Centrifuged Latex
Latex with a high ammonia content is the most widely used type containing minimum 0.6% ammonia. The only stabilizer of this latex grade is ammonia and it does not require the addition of other chemicals.
Special Latexes
De-proteninized latex (ULPL, Ultra-Low Protein Latex) is treated to reduce the allergen content while maintaining the fundamental characteristics of latex. Prevulcanized latex (PV) is subjected to a chemical and thermal treatment which makes it ready for the vulcanization process.
History
Native to the Americas, natural rubber arrives in Europe in the first half of the eighteenth century. Despite the initial interest, some technical flaws such as increased viscosity at high temperatures and high solubility, slowed down its use. It was only after countless research, attempts and failures, that around the mid-nineteenth century the versatile and resistant material known today was obtained.
1
1492
Cristoforo Colombo is the first European to observe rubber.
2
1745
Charles de la Condamine introduces rubber in Europe.
3
1770
.John Priestley coined the name "rubber" (from "to rub") after observing that it could be used to erase the sign of graphite.
4
1820
Thomas Hancock invents the Masticator.
5
1839
Charles Goodyear discovers vulcanization.
6
1876
Start of the spread of the Hevea Brasiliensis in Asia.
Anecdote
At this time the natural rubber market was controlled almost exclusively by Brazil. Queen Victoria, worried about the precariousness of Brazilian supplies and in pursuit for profits, gave to the botanist Henry Wickham the assignment to go recover the rubber tree seeds in Amazonia and bring them back to England. After an adventurous journey along the Amazon River, Wickham managed to bring back home over 70,000 seeds. First planted in the Queen's gardens, they were then brought to Ceylon. The plantation trees turned out to be much more productive than the wild trees of the Amazon to such an extent that within a few years Asia invaded the market, and Brazil saw its market share go from 95% of the last decade of the nineteenth century to only 2-3% in 1913.
7
1888
John Dunlop invents the tire and begins the massive import of natural rubber in the west.
8
1890's
Henry N. Ridley develops "tapping", thus optimizing the extraction process which gave start to large-scale production.
9
1899
.John Perkins discovers latex coagulation through the use of formic acid, further improving the production process.
