Rubber research program, synthetic

Peter J. T. Morris. The American Synthetic Rubber Research Program. Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. Source for synthetic rubber needed German substitutes neoprene properties and marketing. 

Meanwhile, Arnold Beckman (b.1900), hitherto a manufacturer of electronic pH meters, had joined forces with Robert Brattain - the brother of Walter Brattain of transistor fame - at Shell Research, with the encouragement of the U. S. Government s Rubber Reserve Company. Beckman s first commercial infrared spectrometer, the IR-1, was developed in 1942 and was used by the wartime synthetic rubber research program. However, the classified nature of this and similar work meant that Beckman spectrometers were not generally available until 1945, when the IR-2 was marketed. Meanwhile, in Britain, Adam Hilger and Grubb Parsons independ-... 

For more on the U. S. government s wartime synthetic rubber research program, see P. J.T. Morris, The American Synthetic... 

Peter J.T. Morris is Senior Curator, Experimental Chemistry, Science Museum, London. His publications include the American Synthetic Rubber Research Program (Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989), and, with Colin A. Russell, Archives of the British Chemical Industry, 1750-1914 (Faringdon, Oxfordshire British Society for the History of Science, 1988). Research appointments have included Royal Society-British Academy Research Fellow in the History of Science and Edelstein International Fellow in the History of Chemistry. 

Morris PJT (1989) The American synthetic rubber research program. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia... 

Between the 1920s when the initial commercial development of mbbery elastomers based on 1,3-dienes began (5—7), and 1955 when transition metal catalysts were fkst used to prepare synthetic polyisoprene, researchers in the U.S. and Europe developed emulsion polybutadiene and styrene—butadiene copolymers as substitutes for natural mbber. However, the tire properties of these polymers were inferior to natural mbber compounds. In seeking to improve the synthetic material properties, research was conducted in many laboratories worldwide, especially in the U.S. under the Rubber Reserve Program. 

The rabber industry changed again when the Japanese captured the East Indian rubber plantations during World War n. The resulting shortage of rabber prompted an intensive research program to produce synthetic rubber. Today, more than 2 million tons of synthetic rabber is produced each year in the United States. Natural rubber is still produced in the tropics, but its importance pales compared to the glory days of the Brazilian rabber plantations. 

Emulsion polymerization first gained industrial importance during World War II when a crash research program in the United States resulted in the production of styrene-co-butadiene [SBR] synthetic rubber. The Harkins-Smith-Ewart model [5-6] summarized the results of early research, which focussed on this and similar systems. Current thinking is not entirely in accord with this mechanism. It is still worthwhile to review it very brielly here, however, because it is still widely referenced in the technical literature and because some aspects of the model provide valuable insights into operating procedures. 

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