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Current Affairs

Why use rare earths in rubber production? Chinese scientists are engineering tougher tyres

Chinese researchers have completed trials of a new rare earth-based synthetic rubber production facility, industrialising a major raw material for manufacturing electric vehicle and heavy-duty…

By Samantha Johnson / July 27, 2026
Chinese researchers have completed trials of a new rare earth-based synthetic rubber production facility, industrialising a major raw material for manufacturing electric vehicle and heavy-duty vehicle tyres.
High-quality synthetic rubber, most of which uses metal as a catalyst during production, is vital to the transport industry, manufacturing and national defence.

Starting production on July 16, the plant draws on more than 60 years of research into rare earth catalytic synthesis of butadiene rubber, which the institute said it helped to pioneer in the 1960s.

Synthetic rubber is produced mostly from petroleum by-products like styrene and butadiene rather than derived from natural rubber trees.

Butadiene rubber is a type of synthetic rubber that is highly resilient and wear-resistant, and is used to produce tyres and other high-quality rubber-based products. Cis-butadiene rubber refers to a high-grade form engineered to have better durability and elasticity.

Butadiene rubber is typically produced using a metal-based catalyst, mainly nickel, titanium, cobalt, or rare earth metals. One of the main catalytic systems uses neodymium, a rare earth metal produced mainly by China.

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