67 CHEMICALS KNOWLEDGE HUB Issue 1 / July 2025 application is in tires. The growing tire industry is one of the key factors in the growth of the synthetic rubber market. The Asia Pacific region is driving the demand for synthetic rubber in the tire and nontire automotive applications due to the region’s growing automotive industry. Synthetic rubber has properties such as resistance to oil, grease, and ozone, good impact strength, flexibility at low temperatures, and good resilience, making it suitable for automotive applications. This elastomer has elastic properties and is joined by chemical bonds to form a crosslinked structure. Synthetic rubber is popular because of its easy moldability at room temperatures, such as plastics and elastomers. Owing to its properties, such as heat stability, smoothness, wear resistance, and scratch resistance, it is used in various end-use industries. There are six main types of synthetic rubber, namely, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), styrenic block copolymer (SBC), ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM), butyl rubber (IIR), and acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR). According to MarketsandMarkets the market size of synthetic rubber is expected to reach USD 28,923.0 million by 2027. The SBR type accounted for the largest market share of 31.6% in 2021. The synthetic rubber market has witnessed moderate growth in the past few years, which is primarily attributed to the increasing demand for highly efficient and lightweight materials in the automotive, building & construction, footwear, and other industries. Synthetic rubber is preferred over conventional metals in the automobile industry to increase efficiency by reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions and making engines compact. On the other hand, instability in international crude oil prices and fluctuations in labor & energy costs result in price volatility, which poses a challenge to the growth of the synthetic rubber market. The major end-use markets that consume synthetic rubber are automotive, engineering, footwear, textile, and consumer goods, among others. Synthetic rubber is manufactured by the polymerization of monomers. Typically, styrene and butadiene are polymerized to produce styrene- butadiene rubber (SBR) and polybutadiene rubber (BR). Subsequent developments have introduced other monomers, such as ethylene and propylene, which are used in the production of EPDM. The other types of synthetic rubber include isobutylene isoprene Rubber (IIR); it can be modified with halogen atoms such as chlorine or bromine to produce chlorobutyl and bromo butyl, together known as halo-butyls and nitrile (acrylonitrile butadiene). There is also a synthetic version of natural rubber known as polyisoprene or isoprene rubber. The synthetic rubber market is driven by the demand from the tire industry. Tires and non-tire automotive applications are the largest segments of the market. The only restraints faced by the synthetic rubber industry are the health hazards associated with it and the environmental regulations imposed on its manufacturing. Tire is the largest segment of the global automotive industry. Synthetic rubber offers various extraordinary features to tires, such as safety, control, grip, and comfort. Likewise, it provides the tire with various other features, such as directional stability, rolling resistance, wet traction, puncture resistance, steering response, speed and run-flat capability, impact resistance, high fuel efficiency, and weather resistance, to function in challenging conditions. Tires are expected to maintain performance in different weather and surface conditions while meeting the stringent safety norms of various countries. The increasing demand for tires offering a smoother and quieter ride with better fuel efficiency has compelled manufacturers to use better materials such as synthetic rubber and silane. Synthetic tires are widely used in military vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles. Among the types of synthetic rubber, SBR is most widely used in tires; other types of synthetic rubber are also used depending on the type of tire being manufactured. SBR is a costeffective alternative for natural rubber, with better abrasion resistance and inherent hysteresis. Leading tire companies such as Michelin (France) and Bridgestone (Japan) use elastomer as a major raw material for tire manufacturing. All these factors increase the demand for synthetic rubbers for tire applications. The electric vehicle market is gaining the spotlight due to government initiatives to reduce the impact of CO2 emissions on the environment. But, electric cars require special tires as the tires must handle more weight than internal combustion vehicles and deliver more torque to the road when moving away from a stop. Unlike internal combustion vehicles, torque has a significant impact on the wear and tear of EV tires. Because of their near- silent powertrains, tire noise is also more noticeable in electric cars than in internal combustion vehicles, partially masked by engine noise. Asia Pacific was the largest market for synthetic rubber in the tire segment, with China leading the market in the region in 2020. MATERIAL SCIENCE
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