Assignment # 01

Chemistry

Rubber and Fuel

Submitted to: Sir Mehmood Akhter

Submitted by: Hasan Mahmood ReG no: 11-ME-140

RUBBER
Natural rubber:
Natural rubber is an elastomer (an elastic hydrocarbon polymer) that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be tapped, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined into a usable rubber. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, as is synthetic rubber. It is normally very stretchy and flexible and extremely waterproof.

Properties:
Rubber exhibits unique physical and chemical properties. Rubber's stress-strain behavior exhibits the Mullins effect, the Payne effect, and is often modeled as hyper elastic. Rubber strain crystallizes. Owing to the presence of a double bond in each repeat unit, natural rubber is sensitive to ozone cracking.

Solvents:
There are two main solvents for rubber: turpentine and naphtha (petroleum). Because rubber does not dissolve easily, the material is finely divided by shredding prior to its immersion. An ammonia solution can be used to prevent the coagulation of raw latex while it is being transported from its collection site.

Chemical Makeup:
Latex is a natural polymer of isoprene (most often cis-1, 4-polyisoprene) with a molecular weight of 100,000 to 1,000,000. Typically, a small percentage (up to 5% of dry mass) of other materials, such as proteins, fatty acids, resins and inorganic materials (salts) are found in natural rubber. Polyisoprene is also created synthetically, producing what is sometimes referred to as "synthetic natural rubber". Some natural rubber sources called gutta-percha are composed of trans-1, 4polyisoprene, a structural isomer which has similar, but not identical, properties. Natural rubber is an elastomer and a thermoplastic. However, it should be noted that once the rubber is vulcanized, it will turn into a thermo set. Most rubber in everyday use

is vulcanized to a point where it shares properties of both; i.e., if it is heated and cooled, it is degraded but not destroyed.

Elasticity:
In most elastic materials, such as metals used in springs, the elastic behavior is caused by bond distortions. When force is applied, bond lengths deviate from the (minimum energy) equilibrium and strain energy is stored electrostatically. Rubber is often assumed to behave in the same way, but it turns out this is a poor description. Rubber is a curious material because, unlike metals, strain energy is stored thermally. In its relaxed state, rubber consists of long, coiled-up polymer chains that are interlinked at a few points. Between a pair of links, each monomer can rotate freely about its neighbour, thus giving each section of chain leeway to assume a large number of geometries, like a very loose rope attached to a pair of fixed points. At room temperature, rubber stores enough kinetic energy so that each section of chain oscillates chaotically, like the above piece of rope being shaken violently.

Uses:
The use of rubber is widespread, ranging from household to industrial products, entering the production stream at the intermediate stage or as final products. Tires and tubes are the largest consumers of rubber. The remaining 44% are taken up by the general rubber goods (GRG) sector, which includes all products except tires and tubes. Prehistoric Uses: The first use of rubber was by the Olmecs, who centuries later passed on the knowledge of natural latex from the Hevea tree in 1600 BC to the ancient Mayans. They boiled the harvested latex to make a ball for a Mesoamerican ballgame. Manufacturing: Other significant uses of rubber are door and window profiles, hoses, belts, matting, flooring and dampeners (ant vibration mounts) for the automotive industry. Gloves (medical, household and industrial) and toy balloons are also large consumers of rubber, although the type of rubber used is that of the concentrated latex. Significant tonnage of rubber is used as adhesives in many manufacturing industries and products, although the two most noticeable are the paper and the carpet industries. Rubber is also commonly used to make rubber bands and pencil erasers. Many aircraft tires and inner tubes are still made of natural rubber due to the high cost of certification for aircraft use of synthetic replacements.

Textile Applications: Additionally, rubber produced as a fiber sometimes called elastic, has significant value for use in the textile industry because of its excellent elongation and recovery properties. For these purposes, manufactured rubber fiber is made as either an extruded round fiber or rectangular fibers that are cut into strips from extruded film. Because of its low dye acceptance, feel and appearance, the rubber fiber is either covered by yarn of another fiber or directly woven with other yarns into the fabric.

Vulcanization:
Natural rubber is often vulcanized, a process by which the rubber is heated and sulfur, peroxide or bisphenol are added to improve resistance and elasticity, and to prevent it from perishing. Carbon Black is often used as an additive to rubber to improve its strength, especially in vehicle tires.

Allergic Reactions:
Some people have a serious latex allergy, and exposure to certain natural rubber latex products such as latex gloves can cause anaphylactic shock. Guayule latex is hypoallergenic and is being researched as a substitute to the allergyinducing Hevea latexes. Unlike the sappable Hevea tree, these relatively small shrubs must be harvested whole and latex extracted from each cell. Chemical processes may also be employed to reduce the amount of antigenic protein in Hevea latex, resulting in alternative Hevea-based materials such Vytex Natural Rubber Latex that, while not completely hypoallergenic, do provide lessened exposure to latex allergens. Some allergic reactions are not from the latex but from residues of other ingredients used to process the latex into clothing, gloves, foam, etc. These allergies are usually referred to as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).

FUELS
Fuel:
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reactions in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air. Other processes used to convert fuel into energy include various other exothermic chemical reactions and nuclear reactions, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. Fuels are also used in the cells of organisms in a process known as cellular respiration, where organic molecules are oxidized to release usable energy. Hydrocarbons are by far the most common source of fuel used by humans, but many other substances, such as radioactive metals, are currently used as well.

Chemical:
Chemical fuels are substances that release energy by reacting with substances around them, most notably by the process of oxidation. Biofuels: Biofuel can be broadly defined as solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from biomass. Biomass can also be used directly for heating or powerknown as biomass fuel. Biofuel can be produced from any carbon source that can be replenished rapidly e.g. plants. Many different plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacture. Recently Biofuels have been developed for use in automotive transport (for example Bioethanol and Biodiesel), but there is widespread public debate about how carbon efficient these fuels are. Fossil Fuels: Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, primarily coal and petroleum (liquid petroleum or natural gas), formed from the fossilized remains of ancient plants and animals by exposure to high heat and pressure in the absence of oxygen in the Earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. Commonly, the term fossil fuel also includes hydrocarboncontaining natural resources that are not derived entirely from biological sources, such as tar sands. These latter sources are properly known as mineral fuels.

Nuclear Fuels:
Nuclear fuel is any material that is consumed to derive nuclear energy. Technically speaking this definition includes all matter because any element will under the right conditions release nuclear energy, the only materials that are commonly referred to as nuclear fuels though are those that will produce energy without being placed under extreme duress.

Fission: The most common type of nuclear fuel used by humans is heavy fissile elements that can be made to undergo nuclear fission chain reactions in a nuclear fission reactor; nuclear fuel can refer to the material or to physical objects (for example fuel bundles composed of fuel rods) composed of the fuel material, perhaps mixed with structural, neutron moderating, or neutron reflecting materials. The most common fissile nuclear fuels are 235U and 239Pu, and the actions of mining, refining, purifying, using, and ultimately disposing of these elements together make up the nuclear fuel cycle, which is important for its relevance to nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons. In addition there are various types of fuels.

Fusion:
Fuels that produce energy by the process of nuclear fusion are currently not utilized by man but are the main source of fuel for stars, the most powerful energy sources in nature. Fusion fuels tend to be light elements such as hydrogen which will combine easily. In stars that undergo nuclear fusion, fuel consists of atomic nuclei that can release energy by the absorption of a proton or neutron. In most stars the fuel is provided by hydrogen, which can combine together to form helium through the proton-proton chain reaction or by the CNO cycle. When the hydrogen fuel is exhausted, nuclear fusion can continue with progressively heavier elements, although the net energy released is lower because of the smaller difference in nuclear binding energy. Once iron-56 or nickel-56 nuclei are produced, no further energy can be obtained by nuclear fusion as these have the highest nuclear binding energies.