ABSTRACT
General-purpose elastomers played a critical role in the history of the last half of the 20th century. In 1942 the Rubber Reserve program developed both the basic technology and manufacturing capability to make emulsion styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) just a few years after World War II had interrupted natural rubber supplies. Historians have noted that the scientific contribution to that effort is comparable to the nuclear research program at Los Alamos that occurred at the same time (1). After the petroleum shortages of the 1970s, fuel economy became a primary driving force in the automotive industry, and the tire industry was challenged to develop new products that would improve gas mileage. New elastomers based on solution SBR technology proved to be part of the answer.
