Leverkusen - The Rubber Chemicals business unit of specialty chemicals group LANXESS AG is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of rubber chemicals.

In the product portfolio of the RUC business unit rubber producers will find a range of advanced and high-grade additives that aid the manufacture of sophisticated rubber articles and are ultimately responsible for making them into long-lasting high-quality state-of-the-art products. Rubber chemicals from LANXESS are used, for example, to control the course of vulcanization and, in some cases, accelerate it, adjust hardness and elasticity of the finished rubber to the required values and improve adhesion of the elastomer to other materials. Other additives from the RUC business unit increase the flow properties of the raw rubber to allow the manufacture of more intricate products or raise throughput in production. RUC additives also ensure that the material properties required are maintained across the entire cross-section of the component, something that is important in the case of thick-walled articles, for example. Plasticizers, antioxidants and fillers from LANXESS help to keep rubber goods flexible at low temperatures and stop them from forming cracks at high temperatures. They increase the service life of rubber goods subjected to severe stresses and improve their abrasion properties.

The products of the Rubber Chemicals business unit are predominantly sold to tire manufacturers and the producers of technical rubber goods. Other major customers are companies in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries and the mining industry.

The RUC business unit belongs to LANXESS’s Performance Chemicals segment, which achieved total sales of EUR 1,930 million in fiscal 2008. It is headed by Luis López-Remón.

Main brands:

Vulkanox®: Common antioxidants that protect rubber goods – particularly those made of unsaturated elastomers – from gradual degradation through contact with oxygen, ozone, or heat. Vulkanox thus protects rubber from premature material fatigue, crack formation, or embrittlement.

Vulkacit®: Vulcanization accelerators that help rubber producers to optimally regulate the manufacture of rubber goods. Vulkacit interferes in the reaction between sulfur and the elastomer molecules that forms the basis of vulcanization and thereby has a positive influence both on the speed of the crosslinking reaction and on the properties of the vulcanized products, which are then characterized by outstanding tensile strength and elasticity and longer service life.

Vulkanol®, Vulkalent®, Cohedur®, Vulkasil®, Renacit®: Specialty chemicals that, for example, improve the viscosity of the raw rubber compound or lower the hardness and tensile strength of the vulcanizates (Vulkanol®), help to regulate the course of vulcanization (Vulkalent®) and improve adhesion of the rubber to other materials, such as reinforcement fabrics or steel cores in belts, without adversely influencing the critical vulcanization process in diene rubbers (Cohedur®). Vulkasil® is a filler precipitated from aqueous sodium silicate that, for example, increases the hardness and abrasion resistance of (colored) rubber articles and improves the adhesion of the elastomer to steel cords. Renacit® aids the processing of natural rubber by reducing its viscosity in a particularly cost-effective manner.

Sites

Leverkusen, Brunsbüttel, Krefeld-Uerdingen (all Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Bushy Park (United States), Tongling (China), Thane (India) and Isithebe (South Africa). The Rubber Chemicals business unit also has Sales and Customer & Technical Service Centers at international locations in Asia and South America.

Detailed information can be found at: http://techcenter.lanxess.com/ruc