When was zinc oxide used in rubber? We all know this addition gives so many benefits. Therefore, you will learn more about the history of this innovative usage in this article.
The Earlier Usage of Zinc Oxide
Zinc oxide might sound modern. However, we will tell you one thing. People have been using this material for millennia.
Of course, you can’t compare the early usage of zinc oxide to today’s industry usage. In the past, people used it in unprocessed form. Mostly, they used it for painting.
The earliest documentary of zinc oxide usage was written in Charaka Samhita, an Indian medical record. The record revealed people used it as early as 500 BC.
Zinc Oxide for Rubber
What about its usage in rubber? As for this one, we found that the earliest documentation was from 1912.
It started in 1906. It was discovered that the vulcanization process can use an organic accelerator. Thus, the search for a new accelerator began.
In the beginning, they used charcoal. Then, they found that zinc oxide works much better for this purpose.
The significant change that zinc oxide brought at that time was the processing time. Adding this material to vulcanization cut the process time significantly. Furthermore, it improves the production efficiency.
The Modern Era
1975 was the first time zinc oxide was used similar to what we see today. At that time, zinc oxide used in rubber for protection. They put it into natural rubber latex to prevent it from rotting because of external factors, like weather.
Since that year, zinc oxide has become a common material used in various industries. It is not only specific to the rubber industry. Many other manufacturers also use zinc oxide as part of their manufacturing process.
How Does It Change the Vulcanization Process?
It brings two changes. The first one is energy usage.
Zinc oxide helps save more energy. According to the data, rubber vulcanization uses 16% less energy than without zinc oxide.
Then, we saw a study that uncovers the time differences. It stated that the time efficiency increased by 63%.
The cure time is 405 seconds without zinc oxide. After addition, it becomes only 105 seconds.
Conclusion
Zinc oxide is not a new material that many people think about. It has been utilized for a long time. Zinc oxide used in rubber is one of the latest useful discoveries that changed this industry.