How are rubber bands made?
The soul of rubber bands is natural rubber, which is the milky white juice collected mainly from rubber trees, which is latex. Latex must be processed, acid coagulated, cleaned, dried, etc., and turned into hard raw rubber before it can be used. Why is natural rubber mainly used? Not for anything else, just because it is the main source of elasticity!
But rubber alone is not enough, you have to add a bunch of "additives" to help (the role of additives: used to improve performance, facilitate processing, increase beauty, etc. during processing.
Sulfur: Raw rubber and various ingredients are mixed evenly. After mixing, the rubber must be extruded into shape by a machine, but now it is extruded into the shape of a hollow rubber tube. The thickness of this tube determines how big your rubber band can be pulled apart. After molding, it must be vulcanized, which is actually to allow sulfur and rubber molecules to react chemically. After this step, the rubber changes from "raw" to "mature", and it really has elasticity. The vulcanization reaction also gives the rubber band excellent elastic recovery ability. This is the core secret of the elasticity of rubber bands.
Accelerator: Make the reaction faster.
Activator: Works with the accelerator.
Anti-aging agent: Rubber bands are afraid of oxidation, sunlight, and breaking over time, so anti-aging agents are used to solve the problem of aging and breaking.
Color: Want red, yellow, blue, and green? Apply colorant!
Isolation powder: Rubber bands always have a layer of white powder on the surface when they leave the factory? This is to prevent them from "sticking together". Generally, it is talcum powder, mica powder, etc. Now many people say that the kind that can be eaten (such as tying vegetables) mostly uses corn starch. So the newly bought rubber bands always have white powder on their hands, which is the reason.
A small rubber band, from tree sap to finished product, is added with materials and subjected to high temperature and high pressure. Finally, it must be precisely cut and powdered to prevent sticking. This process is actually not simple, and is full of wisdom in various details! The next time you play with it or tie it, think about this journey, it feels a bit interesting, right?
