ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is an economic appraisal of the world rubber industry, and attempts to pinpoint major elements in its growth to the present and future progress. Natural Rubber (NR) is only one of 4 major commodity rubbers, rather more weight is placed on it than on Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR), Butadiene Rubber (BR), and Cis-Polyisoprene Rubber (IR), all of which are to a great extent treated under the general head of Synthetic Rubber (SR). But this is felt justified by the rather special nature of NR compared with the other elastomers, which have many features in common. Rubber development made the possible production of a range of SRs, each with arrays of important properties. It led to the invention of vulcanization, which allowed the conversion of rubber into usable goods.
