From 1927 to 1928, J.C. Patrick of the United States first synthesized polysulfide rubber (polytetraethylene sulfide). W.H. Carothers synthesized 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene by the method of J.A. Newland to obtain a neoprene rubber.
In 1931 DuPont carried out a small production. The Soviet Union used the method of С.Β. Lebedev to synthesize butadiene from alcohol, and used sodium metal as a catalyst to carry out liquid phase bulk polymerization to obtain sodium butadiene rubber. In 1931, a 10,000-ton production unit was built.
During the same period, Germany synthesized butadiene from acetylene and sodium as a catalyst to prepare sodium butadiene rubber. In the early 1930s, the establishment of the macromolecular long-chain structure theory of Germany H. Staudinger (1932) and the chain polymerization theory of the Soviet Union H.H. Semenov (1934) laid the foundation for the polymer discipline. At the same time, the polymerization process and rubber quality have also been significantly improved. Representative rubber types that have appeared during this period are: styrene-butadiene rubber obtained by copolymerization of butadiene and styrene, and nitrile rubber obtained by copolymerization of butadiene and acrylonitrile.
In 1935, the German company first produced nitrile rubber. In 1937, the company built a styrene-butadiene rubber industrial production plant at the Buna Chemical Plant. Due to its excellent comprehensive performance, styrene-butadiene rubber is still the largest variety of synthetic rubber, and nitrile rubber is an oil-resistant rubber, and it is still the main type of special rubber. It is also one of the raw materials for oil resistant rubber boots.
In the early 1940s, due to the urgent need for war, the development and commissioning of butyl rubber technology was promoted. In 1943, the United States began trial production of butyl rubber. By 1944, the annual production of butyl rubber in the United States and Canada was 1,320 tons and 2,480 tons, respectively. Butyl rubber is a kind of airtight synthetic rubber. It is suitable for all kinds of protective boots. It is the first choice for rubber boots manufacturing factories. Later, there are many new varieties of special rubber, such as General Electric Company. Silicone rubber was produced in 1944, and polyurethane rubber (see polyurethane) was produced in Germany and the United Kingdom in the early 1940s.
During the Second World War, Japan occupied the natural rubber producing areas such as Malaysia, which further promoted the development and production of synthetic rubber in North America and the Soviet Union, which increased the world's synthetic rubber production from 23.12 kt in 1939 to 885.5 in 1944. Kt. After the war, the production of synthetic rubber fluctuated between 432.9 and 893.9 kt between 1945 and 1952 as natural rubber resumed supply.