The production process of synthetic rubber can be roughly divided into three parts: synthesis and refining of monomers, polymerization process and post-treatment of rubber.
Monomer production and refining
The basic raw material of synthetic rubber is a monomer, and the usual methods for purification include rectification, washing, drying, and the like.
Aggregation process
The polymerization process is a process in which a monomer is polymerized by an initiator and a catalyst to form a polymer. Sometimes an aggregation device is used, sometimes multiple connections are used in series. The polymerization process of synthetic rubber mainly uses two methods of emulsion polymerization and solution polymerization. Nowadays, styrene-butadiene rubber, isoprene rubber, butadiene rubber, butyl rubber and the like are used for emulsion polymerization.
Post processing
The post-treatment is a process of preparing the finished rubber by removing the unreacted monomers, agglomerating, dehydrating, drying and packaging after the polymerization (the latex or the glue). The coagulation process of the emulsion polymerization mainly uses an electrolyte or a polymer coagulant to destroy the emulsion to precipitate the colloidal particles. The coagulation process of solution polymerization is mainly based on hot water condensate. The colloidal particles precipitated after coagulation contain a large amount of water and need to be dehydrated and dried.