New Rare Earth Isoprene Rubber

Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, CAS and CNPC Jilin
Petrochemical Company Ltd. have jointly used homogenous rare
earth catalyst to successfully synthesize new rare earth
isoprene rubber. The product has recently passed the experts'
appraisal organized by CNPC. The two partners conducted research
on the development of lab technologies for new rare earth
isoprene rubber in March 2006. New high-quality rare earth
isoprene rubber has been successfully synthesized at a
relatively high temperature (40 degree centigrade). The product
has a crystalline and tensile feature similar to natural rubber,
a cis-content of higher than 96%, a relative molecular mass
distribution index of lower than 3.0 and a Mooney viscosity of
70-90.
   Isoprene rubber is also called "synthetic natural rubber".
It is the best synthetic rubber that can replace comprehensive
properties of nature rubber. There is yet no isoprene rubber
production in China. The rubber consumption in China has already
reached more than 3.0 million tons a year, but the annual output
of natural rubber is only more than 500 000 tons. The import
amount of synthetic rubber and the import amount of natural
rubber in China have both reached more than 1.0 million tons a
year in recent years.