Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to some of the frequent questions we are asked.
Q: Where does rubber come from ?
A: Natural rubber is extracted from a tree called "Hevea
brasiliensis" which originated in the Amazon rain forests. As early
as 1876, H.A. Wickham brought seeds of the Hevea tree from Brazil to
Kew Gardens near London. After successfully cultivating these, these
were then distributed to India, Ceylon and British Malaya. The
actual birth of regular rubber planting dates from that period.
The tree takes around 5 years to grow from a seedling to maturity, or a point that it can start to produce rubber. It has an economic life of about 25 to 30 years.
Q: Where is rubber grown ?
A: Basically in areas 15% north and south of the equator.
Countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Ivory
Coast, Nigeria, India, China and Brazil. All these countries have
high temperatures, rainfall and humidity at low altitude.
Recent developments of new breed varieties can be grown in areas 20% north of the equator.
Q: Who are the largest
producers ?
A: Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia account for about 75% of
the world production.
Q: How is rubber collected ?
A: Rubber is extracted in the form of latex, a white, milky
fluid which is found in the inner layers of the bark of the trees,
using a method known as "tapping". This involves paring away the
outer bark to a depth of about 2mm in a series of spiral cuts using
a special knife.
The latex then bleeds from the cut and trickles into a collecting cup for a period of in excess of several hours, until it begins to coagulate and the flow ceases. Tappers sometimes tap up to 500 trees per day.
Q: How are Rubber Bands made ?
A: Below are the steps followed
1) Mixing & Compounding
The rubber is mixed with various chemicals in required proportions depending on rubber content. This compounded mixture is then strained to ensure that there are no extraneous materials in compounded material.
2) Extrusion
The compounded rubber is then put into an extrusion machine. This extrudes the rubber into tubing form using specific die heads to achieve a required diameter and wall thickness. The tubing is then cut into lengths and put onto mandrels of the same size / diameter.
3) Curing
The tubing now on mandrels is put into an autoclave (oven) to ensure tubing reaches it's set form. The tubing is then blown off the mandrels for passing to the cutting area.
4) Cutting
The tubing is then fed into rotary cutters to cut into designated cut widths of rubber bands.
5) Packing
These cut bands are then packed to conform to customers designated specification.