Editing Vulcanization (section)

{{Short description|Process of hardening rubber}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2023}}
[[File:VulcanizationMold1941.jpg|thumb|295px|Worker placing a tire in a mold before vulcanization.]]

'''Vulcanization''' (British English: '''vulcanisation''') is a range of processes for hardening [[rubber]]s.<ref name="Rev1">{{cite journal |last1=Akiba |first1=M |title=Vulcanization and crosslinking in elastomers |journal=Progress in Polymer Science |date=1997 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=475–521 |doi=10.1016/S0079-6700(96)00015-9}}</ref> The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of [[natural rubber]] with [[sulfur]], 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 [[RTV silicone|room temperature vulcanizing]] and [[chloroprene rubber]] (neoprene) using metal oxides. 

Vulcanization can be defined as the [[curing (chemistry)|curing]] of [[elastomer]]s, with the terms 'vulcanization' and 'curing' sometimes used interchangeably in this context. It works by forming [[cross-link]]s between sections of the [[polymer chain]] which results in increased rigidity and durability, as well as other changes in the mechanical and electrical properties of the material.<ref name="Mark_2005">{{cite book |editor1=James E. Mark |editor2=Burak Erman |editor3=F. R. Eirich |year=2005 |title=Science and Technology of Rubber |pages=768 |isbn=0-12-464786-3}}</ref> Vulcanization, in common with the curing of other [[thermosetting polymer]]s, is generally irreversible.

The word was suggested by [[William Brockedon]] (a friend of [[Thomas Hancock (inventor)|Thomas Hancock]] who attained the British patent for the process) coming from the god [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]] who was associated with heat and sulfur in [[volcano]]es.<ref name=Brockedon>{{cite book |last=Hancock |first=Thomas |title=Personal Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Caoutchouc Or India-Rubber Manufacture in England |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts |date=1857 |location=London |page=107 |url=https://archive.org/details/personalnarrati00hancgoog}}</ref>