Think rubber, think Charles Goodyear! This American chemist’s work in the realm of rubber and its uses, through ‘vulcanisation’, helped rubber emerge as one the most widely used materials globally, revolutionising a host of industries. Vulcanisation refers to a chemical process where rubber is heated with sulphur, accelerator, and activator at 140-160°C.
The process involves formation of cross-links between long rubber molecules, which helps achieve improved elasticity, resilience, tensile strength, viscosity, hardness and weather resistance. While unvulcanised rubber tends to be less strong, does not retract to its original shape after large deformation, and can be very sticky, vulcanisation makes the rubber more durable and long-lasting, allowing it to be converted into useful articles, like tyres and footwear.
In the 1800s, rubber emerged as an essential raw material for a rapidly industrialising world. But integrating this naturally-occurring substance into manufacturing and commercial use was a challenge, and there was a need to find a way to conquer this. Goodyear was born on December 29, 1800, in New Haven, Connecticut, to Cynthia Bateman and Amasa Goodyear.
From a very young age, he had a flair for industry. Goodyear began his career as a partner in his father’s hardware business, and was interested in discovering a method of treating india rubber so that it would lose its adhesiveness and susceptibility to extreme heat and cold. He developed a nitric acid treatment, and in 1837, got a contract for the manufacture by this process of mailbags for the US government, but the rubber fabric proved useless at high temperatures.
Finally, in 1839, he discovered vulcanisation, which was perfected by 1841 in Springfield, Massachusetts, when Goodyear found a process of heating natural rubber with sulphur, which realised the objective of making rubber extremely user-friendly, improving its oil resistance, abrasion resistance, and age resistance. Goodyear also noted the important function of certain additional substances during this process. Goodyear died on July 1, 1860, in New York City, aged 59.