MALAYSIAN RUBBER

Table 1. Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) Specifications Scheme ...

J. B. Gomez, Physiology ofEatex (Bubber) Production, MRRDB Monograph No. 8., Malaysian Rubber Research Development Board, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1983. 

C. S. L. Baker, Vulcanisation with Urethane Reagents, NR Technical Bulletin, Malaysian Rubber Pioduceis Research Association, Biickendonbeiiy, U.K, 1978. 

Development of Natural Rubber-Based Tmck Tyre Retreading Compounds," in M. E. Cain and Sifi Zubaidah bte Mohd Rashid, eds.. Proceedings of a UNIDO-sponsored Workshop, Kuala Eumpur, Malaysia, Malaysian Rubber Pioduceis Research Association, Heitfoid, U.K, 1992. 

Another interesting innovation is that developed by the Malaysian Rubber Producers Research Association. In this case the coupling agent is first joined to a natural rubber molecule involving an ene molecular reaction. The complex group added contains a silane portion which subsequently couples to filler particles when these are mixed into the rubber. 

Compared with the natural material, raw SBR is more uniform in a variety of ways. Not only is it more uniform in quality so that compounds are more consistent in both processing and product properties but it is also more uniform in the sense that it usually contains fewer undesired contaminants. In addition, over a period of years it has been generally less subject to large price variations. These differences in uniformity have, however, tended to lessen with the advent of improved grades of natural rubber such as Standard Malaysian Rubber which have appeared in recent years. 

In solid form, the natural rubber is graded according to the content of dirt remaining from the precipitation of latex at the plantation. Eight basic NR types have been traditionally recognized internationally. Only the so-called ribbed smoked sheets and the pale crepes are normally used for adhesives. The predominant grade system, the Standard Malaysian Rubber system, has been used since 1965. 

Technical data sheets , Malaysian Rubber Producers Research Association, Ttin Abdul Razak Laboratory, Brickendonbury, Herts. SG13 8NL (1995). Data sheets for various blends of natural rubber. 

This is the generic name for the scheme originally introduced in Malaysia as Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR). In effect it is the same specification but apphed to rubber produced in other countries, e g., Standard Indonesian Rubber (SIR). Both SMR and SIR are Technically Specified Rubbers. 

The Malaysian rubber industry has, however, played a pioneering role in producing NR grades to technical specifications, and this system is being followed by other producer countries. Currently the following countries sell technically specified grades ... 

Long O E Poon N K Hassan A H Malaysian Rubber Board... 

CARDINAL HEALTH INC. MALAYSIAN RUBBER PRODUCERS COUNCIL ALLEGIANCE CORP. 

Revisions to Standard Malaysian Rubber Scheme, SMR Bull. 11 (1991). 

In the 1930s, more than 90 percent of the natural rubber used in the United States came from Malaysia. In the days after Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941 and the United States entered World War II, however, Japan captured Malaysia. As a result, the United States—the land with plenty of everything, except rubber—faced its first natural resource crisis. The military implications were devastating because without rubber for tires, military airplanes and jeeps were useless. Petroleum-based synthetic rubber had been developed in 1930 by DuPont chemist Wallace Carothers but was not widely used because it was much more expensive than natural rubber. With Malaysian rubber impossible to get and a war on, however, cost was no longer an issue. Synthetic rubber factories were constructed across the nation, and within a few years, the annual production of synthetic rubber rose from 2000 tons to about 800,000 tons. 

Malaysian Rubber Research and Development Board, Malaysia Rubber Developments and other technical literatures. 

White latex drips out of cuts in the bark of a rubber tree in a Malaysian rubber plantation. 

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