The Fascinating World of Rubber: the Key to Pioneering Developments and Technical Innovations

The Mayans themselves were astonished when they heated up the milky sap tapped from the trees and created latex. The sap turned into a solid yet elastic mass from which the ancient peoples made balls, vessels and hoses for everyday use. The Mayans gave the tree the name “caa-o-chu,” meaning “weeping tree.” For a long time, however, people did not know what to do with the material. It was not until the dawn of industrialization that rubber was successfully converted into a modern material. The biggest challenge was to improve the material so that it could be used more easily. When very hot it began to stick and when cold it became brittle. The effects of light and the weather quickly made the rubber products of this time unusable. It was the process of vulcanization that gave rubber its elasticity. The industry used it for seals in steam engines, to insulate telegraph cables and for bicycle tires. Soon, it was used as an insulator in the emerging electrical industry and to manufacture vehicle tires. In this way, the raw material developed into one of the key materials of the Industrial Revolution. Today, around 40% of rubber is extracted from the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis.

Rubber is an excellent team player, so most of its mechanical properties are dependent on the materials with which it is combined. Joined with other materials, it becomes a high-tech product and is a high-performance component in complex technical systems. Hardly any other material has the ability to be combined with so many different substances to create something new. This enables Continental’s research and development departments to come up with pioneering material combinations with improved or hitherto unprecedented properties. “We provide the knowledge needed to combine various materials, such as rubber or plastic, with metals, fabrics or other structural components or electronic components. We have developed substantial expertise in this field of hybrid materials and compound products and are increasingly converting our skills into new applications,” continues Herrmann.

Without rubber, individual mobility would also be hardly conceivable. It is largely responsible for safety and comfort in today’s cars. Drive belts, hose lines and mounts, for instance, are integral components of engines and chassis. Whereas around 1900, a vehicle had between only 15 and 20 rubber parts in total, nowadays there are around 600 functional parts, components and systems made from this material. What’s more, over 70 percent of the rubber extracted worldwide is used for the production of tires for cars, trucks and airplanes – almost two billion units per year. Other products include around 40,000 items used in daily life, which contain rubber.