A National Historic Chemical Landmark: United States Synthetic Rubber Program

United States Synthetic Rubber Program, 1939-1945

Origins of the Synthetic Rubber Industry in the United States
Because of its working relationship with I. G. Farben, the giant oil company Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon Chemical Company, a division of Exxon Corporation) was an important go-between in the transatlantic transfer of synthetic rubber technology. In the early 1930s, chemists at Jersey Standard began research and development on the production of butadiene from petroleum. Their work involved dehydrogenation, a reaction that removes hydrogen atoms from hydrocarbon molecules. The discovery of catalysts to accelerate the reaction, along with purification procedures and process modifications, allowed large-scale production of butadiene. The company, under the leadership of Frank A. Howard, entered into agreements with I. G. Farben and, through the Joint American Study Company, exchanged technical information on synthetic rubber and other developments. Jersey Standard also had limited development rights for Buna S and administered the patents in the United States after the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939. Because GR-S is similar to Buna S, this technology proved crucial to solving the rubber crisis facing the United States when the war spread worldwide.

Sheets of dried synthetic rubber and dried natural rubber. In the United States, research and development to produce an all-purpose substitute for natural rubber was dominated by the big four rubber companies, The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company (now Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.), The B. F. Goodrich Company, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and United States Rubber Company (now Uniroyal Chemical Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Crompton & Knowles Corporation). Their collective technical knowledge was significant to the successful outcome of the synthetic rubber program.

The work of two Russian scientists employed by United States Rubber, Alexander D. Maximoff and Ivan Ostromislensky, had resulted in 1920s patents for emulsion polymerization of butadiene and also of styrene. B. F. Goodrich Company scientists, under the direction of chemist Waldo L. Semon, built a 100-pound-per-day pilot plant to copolymerize butadiene with methyl methacrylate to produce a rubber for tire applications. The resulting product, "Ameripol", was introduced in 1940. Ray P. Dinsmore of Goodyear patented "Chemigum", a synthetic rubber produced in Akron, Ohio, that same year. James D. D'Ianni, also working at Goodyear, did extensive research on synthesizing a variety of monomers that could be polymerized with butadiene. John Street directed the Firestone program for polymerizing butadiene and styrene and built a synthetic rubber pilot plant for tire applications. Still, natural rubber remained the mainstay of U.S. manufacturing.

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