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vulcanization
Sign in to savethumb|295px|Worker placing a tire in a mold before vulcanization
Vulcanization is a chemical process that treats rubber with heat and additives (historically sulfur) to make it stronger, more elastic, and more durable. This process is essential for creating useful rubber products like tires, which need to withstand wear, temperature changes, and constant stress.
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Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- History
- Applications
- Overview
- Vulcanization with sulfur
- Vulcanization of polychloroprene
- Vulcanization of silicones{{anchor|Room-temperature vulcanisation|Room temperature vulcanisation|Room-temperature vulcanisation|Room temperature vulcanisation|Room Temperature Vulcanisation}}
- See also
- References
thumb|295px|Worker placing a tire in a mold before vulcanization
Vulcanization (British English: vulcanisation) is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur and heat, which remains the most common practice. It has also grown to include the hardening of other (synthetic) rubbers via various means. Examples include silicone rubber via room temperature vulcanising and chloroprene rubber (neoprene) using metal oxides.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “vulcanization” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.