World Rubber Day

Even though natural rubber is hardly ever used in modern tyre production, this very raw material contributed to progress in the industry and can be described as basic for the tyre production we know today.

Today we pay homage to the material from which tyres are made, respectively were made in the past.

Elastic material is needed for countless processes - in the case of tyres in the form of rubber. And this is created through various steps in the further processing of rubber.

Originally it was obtained from latex, the milky fluid of the rubber tree [Hevia Brasiliensis], today it is made of synthetic rubber. Plant systematically, the rubber tree belongs to the family of the spurge plants, as does the dandelion, which is better known in our latitudes. The people of the Amazon region called the natural white substance "ca-hu-chu", which can be translated as "weeping wood".

Charles Marie de la Condamine [1701-1774; mathematician, encyclopaedist, astronomer, quasi-pioneer of Alexander von Humboldt and generally honoured scientist in various fields] discovered the mass that exuded from an injured tree in Brazil and brought some of it to Europe in the 1730s. The underlying characteristic of protecting against pathogen infestation by leaking liquid is common to many plants.

Rubber got its name in English when a pharmacist noticed a special feature - pencil marks could be removed by rubbing them on paper [ to rub, rubber = gum].

In 1839 Charles Goodyear developed the process of vulcanisation, in which rubber can be transformed into very resilient rubber by heating it together with sulphur. This process describes the transition from a plastic material to an elastic one and is still the basis of all tyre production today.

Brazil's initial world monopoly later collapsed after the plant was successfully brought out of the country and cultivated in plantations. At that time, the Malay Peninsula held a dominant position.

Nowadays, with regard to the main cultivation areas, one speaks of the rubber belt and thus refers to a part of the region between latitude 30 degrees north and latitude 30 degrees south.

Natural rubber is harvested by making elongated cuts on the tree, which are set in a spiral shape. At the lower end of the cut, a cup attached there collects the escaping milk juice (latex). Such a cut must be made professionally in order to ensure the tree's continued water supply and not to damage the milk tubes. In this way, a tree can be harvested several times. Not until the age of 5-6 years the rubber tree is ready for harvesting and from then on it is still able to produce latex for about 20 years.

Thus, natural rubber can be described as a renewable resource, even if its cultivation in large quantities is not without problems. There is an exciting report on this theme from the ARD series "Exclusiv im Ersten" entitled "Schmutzige Reifen - Ein Milliaradengeschäft" [translated: Dirty tyres - a billion-dollar business]. The documentary concludes that the only real alternative to new tyres is the conservation of resources through the use of retreaded tyres.

Important for the environment: In the meantime, natural rubber is largely replaced by synthetic materials. On average, the rubber compounds used to manufacture our King-Meiler retreads contain no natural rubber at all for summer tyres, less than 10% for winter tyres, and the value for all-season tyres is somewhere in between. The compounds for our King-Meiler are developed by engineers who also work in the new tyre industry.

There are research projects looking for alternatives in nature, for example the dandelion, which is native in our country.

In addition, our research and development is based on our own test team. Feedback from the ongoing test runs is incorporated into further development.

Conclusion:

Without this, industrialisation would probably not have taken place to the extent we know today: Natural rubber. 

Today, compounds, i.e. the mixtures used for tyre production, are largely based on synthetic rubber.

The production of retreaded tyres requires less rubber than new tyre production and avoids waste.

Like new tyres, King-Meiler contain increasing amounts of silica, a material that increases safety by improving grip in wet conditions and reduces rolling resistance.

King-Meiler retreads offer safety, comfort and durability in their high quality and come from an environmentally friendly production process.

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