Synthetic rubbers have fundamentally different properties to natural rubbers and are therefore used for different purposes. For example, nitrile rubber has decreased permeability to many solvents and increased abrasion resistance.
I'd suggest the article needs an update as natural rubber and synthetic rubbers need to be more clearly delineated. Also a short monologue on chemical additives and potential allergies would be of use as they are of fundamental importance to a significant minority (natural rubber can cause a potentially fatal allergy).
I will try to address this in the coming weeks.
--John Spashett 09:29, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Where can i found Kautschuk?
What about the use of Natural rubber to augment synthetic rubber properties?
[1] states
Around 30,000 everyday products contain natural rubber, everything from car tires, catheter tubes, latex gloves to tops for drinks bottles. Car tires, for instance, would not be elastic enough without the incorporation of natural rubber.
This seems to be to be missing from the article: there is not just synthetic, and natural rubber, but there is also widespread use of natural rubber to alter the properties of synthetic rubber: complexes of both. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.240.104.100 (talk) 06:48, 12 September 2009 (UTC)
To distinguish the tree-obtained version of natural rubber from the synthetic version, the term gum rubber is sometimes used.
Which one is gum rubber? Natural or synthetic? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.169.2.66 (talk) 16:52, 13 January 2012 (UTC)