Colloidal Stability of Natural Rubber Latex and the Importance of Latex Specifications

Manufacturer: We are facing a lot of latex stability problems with natural rubber latex concentrate. This occurs intermittently during the year. What is your best advice to overcome this?

John Woon (Senior Latex Consultant): You have to work very closely with your suppliers and the latex producers to decide on the right parameters for the specification of the base latex concentrate.

The producer's specification, though acceptable to others, might not be suitable for your process. This is a big subject, but briefly, here's my advice. You should study the significance of the main parameters, such as MST, VFA Number, KOH Number, and coagulum level, on your processes. You should carry out some of these tests yourself instead of relying totally on the specification from the suppliers/latex producers.

The stability problem is particularly worse during the wintering months of the rubber trees, and extra care and attention should be paid to the parameters of the specification.

Like I said, this is a big subject that is beyond the scope of this blog. If you want, I can write you a comprehensive guidebook on how to monitor and control the colloidal stability of the incoming latex concentrate, the latex during and after compounding, and during processing, such as latex dipping, etc.