Category overview
Butadiene Rubber (BR) appears as a pale-colored, highly elastic polymer that delivers exceptional elasticity and very low temperature flexibility. Key features include excellent resilience and rebound properties, good abrasion resistance, high resistance to crack growth, and low heat buildup under dynamic conditions. BR is used in tire compounds, conveyor belts, golf ball cores, and industrial rubber goods.
BR is almost always blended with other elastomers like natural rubber or SBR rather than used as a direct alternative. Current market trends show increasing demand for functionalized BR grades that offer improved interaction with silica fillers for reduced rolling resistance in "green tire" applications. BR varieties include high-cis BR (>96% cis content for maximum elasticity), medium-cis BR (90-96% cis content with balanced properties), low-cis BR (used in limited specialized applications), and syndiotactic 1,2-BR (crystallizing with different properties).
