TUTORIAL 15

NATURAL MATERIALS &

MANUFACTURED MATERIALS
 Question 1:

C)COMPARE AND CONTRAST NATURAL

AND MANUFACTURED MATERIALS:

• Rubber and vulcanized rubber

  Chemical process for
converting rubber or
related polymer into more
durable materials via the
addition of sulphur or other
equivalent "curatives".
Additives-modify the polymer by
forming crosslink (bridges)
between individual polymer
chains. (Less sticky and has
superior mechanical properties.)

Vulcanize
d rubber

It is thermoplastic and
A vast array of products are
becomes soft and sticky on
made with vulcanized rubber
hot days and hard when it
including tires, shoe soles,
is cooled to lower
hoses, and hockey pucks
temperature.
Natural rubber is
an elastomer (an elastic hydroc
arbon polymer) that was
originally derived from latex, a
milky colloid found in the sap
of some plants
Natural
rubber
Its main constituent is poly(cis-1,4-
isoprene), a highly unsaturated
hydrocarbon and naturally
occurring alkene polymer.
Is called elastomer and different
from all other solid materials in
that they are may be stretched
to high extensions and rapidly
contracted to its original length.
Ordinary rubber band made
from natural rubber can be
stretched to more than 4x its
original length and it is elastic.
 Natural rubber Vulcanized rubber

• Natural rubber is soft and sticky. • Vulcanized rubber is hard and non-sticky.

• It has low tensile strength. • It has high tensile strength.

• It has low elasticity. • It has high elasticity.

• It can be used over a narrow range of • It can be used over a wide range of
temperature (from 10° to 60°C). temperature (–40° to 100°C).

• It has low wear and tear resistance. • It has high wear and tear resistance.

• It is soluble in solvents like ether, carbon, • It is insoluble in all the common solvents.
tetrachloride, petrol, turpentine.
• Absorbs a small amount of water.
• Absorb a large amount of water.