Styrene-butadiene (SB) latex is a common type of emulsion polymer used in a number of industrial and commercial applications. Because it's composed of two different types of monomers, styrene and butadiene, SB latex is classified as a copolymer. Styrene is derived from reacting benzene and ethylene, and butadiene is a byproduct of ethylene production.
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Styrene-butadiene latex differs from both of its monomers and from natural latex, which is made from the sap of Hevea brasiliensis trees (aka rubber trees). It also differs from another manufactured compound, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), which shares a similar name but offers a different set of properties. We'll discuss SBR a bit more in the next section, but you can read more about the differences between SB rubber and SB latex in our companion article.
Over the years, chemists worked to improve the properties of natural rubber. Almost everyone knows about Charles Goodyear, who developed the process of vulcanization in the early s, mixing latex rubber with sulfur and lead oxide to make a harder, more durable rubber product. But the rise of the auto industry in the early s put increased demands on the supply of natural latex and spurred scientists around the world to re-create rubber in the laboratory.
Dr. Walter Bock was one such scientist, and in , he discovered how to make a synthetic rubber by polymerizing styrene and butadiene in just the right proportion ' 25 percent styrene and 75 percent butadiene. His product was known as styrene-butadiene rubber, and it was marketed under the trade name Buna S. The versatile product found its way into a number of applications, ranging from vehicle tires and conveyor belts to shoe soles and floor mats.
After World War II, chemists continued to experiment with styrene-butadiene-based materials and found that the copolymer was quite versatile. By changing the ratio of styrene to butadiene or by adding other chemicals ' including functional monomers, surfactants and initiators ' they found they could alter the final properties of the resulting material. Styrene-butadiene latex, which behaved quite differently than SBR, was born out of these experiments. The development of latex paint by Dow Chemical Company in the late s was one of the first great applications of styrene-butadiene latex. As a binder used in a 60-40 ratio, styrene-butadiene latex improved the adhesion and durability of water-based paints. Latex paint products had little odor, were non-toxic and non-flammable, and cleanup was easy with water.
Over time, chemists were able to further adapt and refine the emulsion polymerization process to create new uses, new products and branch out into new markets for SB latex, in products such as paper coatings, textile back coatings, and nonwovens.
Styrene-butadiene latex is manufactured through the polymer emulsion process. This involves adding the monomers to water along with surfactants, initiators, carboxylic acids and specialty monomers. Initiators trigger the chain-reaction polymerization that joins the styrene monomer to the butadiene monomer. Butadiene itself is the union of two vinyl groups, so it is capable of reacting with four other monomer units. As a result, it can extend the growth of the polymer chain but is also able to link one polymer chain to another. This is called crosslinking, and it's vitally important to styrene-butadiene chemistry. The crosslinked part of the polymer doesn't dissolve in suitable solvents but swells to form a gel-like matrix.
Most commercial styrene-butadiene polymers are heavily crosslinked, so they have a high gel content, a critical property that has a strong influence on the performance of the latex, allowing for more toughness, strength, and elasticity than other materials. Up next, we'll explore how these properties can be put to good use across a number of industries and applications.
Styrene-butadiene latex offers a number of benefits, including filler acceptance and tensile/elongation balance. The flexibility of this copolymer allows for a near-infinite number of mixtures that result in high water resistance and adhesion to challenging substrates. These qualities of SB latex make this synthetic essential to an ever-widening group of markets.
SB latex formulations are commonly used as a coating in paper products, such as magazines, flyers and catalogs, to achieve high gloss, good printability, and resistance to oil and water. SB latex enhances a pigment's binding power and, in turn, makes paper smoother, stiffer, brighter and more water resistant. As an added bonus, SB latex is much less expensive than alternative coatings.
SB latex is a popular choice for adhesives in certain industries like flooring. For example, the polymer is found as the back coating of textiles like tufted carpets. The back coating provides water resistance and holds the tufts in place, which improves stability and reduces fraying at the edge.
These are just some of the uses of styrene-butadiene latex. In reality, it provides infinite possibilities, as evidenced by its utility for running tracks, textile coatings, pressure sensitive adhesives, and nonwoven fabrics. Styrene butadiene polymer emulsions are also a key component in liquid-applied membranes, construction adhesives, and low MVTR barrier coatings for food packaging.
The worldwide market for styrene-butadiene latex is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 2.9 percent over the next five years, and Mallard Creek Polymers will be a leader in this growth. As a leading provider of styrene-butadiene emulsion polymers, we have the know-how and the experience to devise product formulations for virtually any application.
Often the terms Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SB Rubber) and Styrene-Butadiene Latex (SB Latex) are used interchangeably. However, they are two different materials that are used in different ways on a variety of products.
How SB Rubber and SB Latex are alike is that they are both synthetic polymers and they are usually created by a process called emulsion polymerization. They also share the same two components - an organic compound named styrene and an industrial gas called butadiene. Styrene is produced when benzene and ethylene react with each other at room temperature. It's a colorless oily liquid and it has a sweet odor. While butadiene is a byproduct of the hydrocarbon ethylene and it is a colorless gas that smells faintly like gasoline.
For more information, please visit Styrene Butadiene Latex for Bitumen.
Another way that SB Rubber and SB Latex are the same is that they both share several benefits over natural rubber. For example, they are usually less expensive, they are more resistant to abrasions and they age better because they harden over time, whereas natural rubber softens. Another important trait is that there are no allergens in SB Rubber and SB Latex, but there are allergens in natural rubber. In fact, allergies to natural rubber have become a rather big health care problem. The people who are most likely to develop these allergies are people who regularly come into contact with natural rubber, like health care professionals who wear rubber gloves and patients who require a lot of surgery.
Those are some of the main ways that SB Rubber and SB Latex are similar, but, what makes them different?
Styrene-Butadiene Rubber is most often made up of 25% styrene and 75% Butadiene, which is a higher butadiene content than Styrene-Butadiene Latex and this makes it more elastic-like.
SB Rubber's development traces back to the discovery of synthetic rubber in Germany in the early s. At the time, the demand for rubber was high because of the burgeoning auto industry. To meet the need for rubber, in , the pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer gave their scientists a task. If they developed a synthetic rubber that would cost less than 10 marks per kilogram, they would be given a prize of 20,000 gold marks, which is just over $125,000 USD today.
Finishing the project just under deadline in was Fritz Hofmann. However, his rubber still needed to be tweaked and in , Bayer started selling the first synthetic rubber, which was a variation of Hofmann's formula. Sales of the synthetic rubber really took off with World War I because rubber became harder to get, but the need for rubber increased to help fuel the war machines of Germany and its allies.
In the years that followed World War I, chemists were still working on improving synthetic rubber. One such chemist was Dr. Walter Bock, who worked at the German pharmaceutical company IG Farben, and he started experimenting with a process called emulsion polymerization. Bock found that when he used 25% styrene and 75% butadiene during the polymerization, the result was a tough and resilient synthetic rubber.
In , a patent was filed for the first styrene-butadiene rubber, which was marketed under the name Buna S. The new copolymer was tougher and less rubbery than natural rubber, making it ideal for tires. That is still the most common use of SB Rubber; about half of all car tires use some form of SB Rubber.
However, SB Rubber is not just limited to tires. SB Rubber can be polymerized in different ways, which changes the consistency of the rubber. For example, when it is cold polymerized, the final product is used for filling in potholes and foam for mattresses.
Styrene-Butadiene Latex is the most common type of styrene-butadiene emulsion polymer and it's also important to note that it's not just different from Styrene-Butadiene Rubber, it's also different from natural latex. Natural latex is a white sap that comes from hevea brasiliensis trees, which are more commonly called rubber trees. This sap can be refined and compounded, and this makes it readily processed and optimizes its physical properties. An example of a product that is made from natural rubber are white gloves that are used by medical professionals.
As for how SB Latex differs from SB Rubber, it has a greater crosslink density, and this gives it more toughness and strength compared to SB Rubber. This means that after it is stretched it will recover closer to its original shape.
Another notable difference between SB Rubber and SB Latex is that SB Latex products are much more diverse. SB Latex and the process conditions allow manufacturers to create dramatically different polymer compositions with dramatically different performance results. This allows producers of SB Latex such as Mallard Creek Polymers to customize products to meet a variety of requirements.
One of the main uses of SB Latex is that it is used for paper coating for products like magazines, flyers, catalogues and paperboard products like folding food cartons. SB Latex enhances the pigment's binding power, it makes the paper smoother, stiffer, glossier, brighter, and it is more water resistant. It's also much less expensive than alternative coatings.
Another major use of SB Latex is backcoating on textiles, including tufted carpets which are the most popular type of carpet in America; about 90 percent of carpets are tufted. The backcoating holds the tufts in place, which improves stability and reduces fraying at the edge. However, the main reason SB Latex is the most used polymer for backcoating is because it has high pigment binding capability and strength.
Those are only a few of the uses for SB Latex and new ways of using it in different fields is being found all the time. Just a few more examples to show the diversity for the uses of SB Latex is that it can be used for running tracks, specialty coatings, adhesives, and non-woven fabrics.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of nbr latex. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
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