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[Dur…] ing the war, the product was mainly used as a substitute
for hard rubber, e.g., in batteries. These hard rubber products were of great
importance in submarine construction. It was impossible at the time, for
technical reasons, to manufacture other kinds of synthetic rubber of any
satisfactory quality.
A few years after the war, IG resumed its efforts
in this field, with the result that products were obtained which, for a number
of purposes, especially the manufacture of tire threads, rivaled natural rubber
in durability. Furthermore, the manufacture of primary products was perfected
to such an extent that it would have been possible to produce this new
synthetic rubber entirely from German raw materials. At the time when our
endeavors had reached that stage, the price of natural rubber was approximately
2 marks per kilogram. While we were busy making plans for a technical research
plant, a slump in the price of natural rubber occurred, which brought it down
to about 40 pfennigs per kilogram. It was hopeless, under such conditions, to
proceed with our plans. Nevertheless we continued doing research work in our
laboratories, with the result that it seemed possible to manufacture synthetic
rubber which, particularly when used for tire threads, considerably surpassed
natural rubber in durability. Since, as is common knowledge, the quantity of
rubber required for a tire accounts only for a small fraction of the price of
the tire, it would seem feasible to spend a much higher amount on each kilogram
of a synthetic product, if the life of a tire were increased by, say, 50
percent. Of importance, furthermore, would seem to be certain indications that
the new products surpass natural rubber tires in nonskid properties. On these
grounds, the manufacture of synthetic rubber would seem to hold out some
promise once again, so that IG would be willing to resume its experiments on a
large scale.
In the assessment of the prospects for this future
research work, however, one consideration is of decisive importance: The
synthetic products differ a little from natural rubber in their chemical
composition, but the method of processing them deviates greatly in that they
are considerably more difficult to work up. Consequently, the methods used to
date in the rubber industry cannot easily be applied to the new products.
Manufacturing problems will therefore play an important part in future
research. It is for this purpose that the cooperation of an efficient rubber
factory is required. In the interest of such cooperation it is, in our opinion,
essential that the government advise the rubber factory concerned that
effective cooperation is expected of them. Furthermore, we feel that the
government could best support the project by having the new tires tested on a
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