With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, natural rubber yoga mats are becoming more and more popular among customers. Natural rubber yoga mat has the advantages of environmental protection, health and so on. However, the production of natural rubber yoga mats is not a simple process. Before the yoga mat reaches the end-user, it includes 5 steps. Let us discover how our yoga mat is produced.

The manufacturing process of natural rubber yoga mats is complex and has high technical content. The selection of raw materials, the machinery and equipment in the production process, the formula and the professionalism of the operators will all affect the final quality of the yoga mat.

The production process of rubber yoga mat

1. The basic process flow of rubber

There are many types of rubber products, but the production process is basically the same. The basic process of rubber products using general solid rubber-raw rubber as raw materials includes six basic processes: plasticizing, mixing, calendering, pressing, molding, and vulcanization. Of course, basic processes such as raw material preparation, finished product finishing, inspection and packaging are also indispensable.

The process of rubber processing is mainly to resolve the contradiction between plastic and elastic properties. Through various technological means, the elastic rubber is turned into plasticized rubber, and then various compounding agents are added to make semi-finished products and then vulcanized into rubber yoga mats with high elasticity and good physical and mechanical properties.

2. Raw material preparation

1. The main raw material of rubber products is raw rubber as the basic material, and raw rubber grows on tropical and subtropical rubber trees and is collected by manually cutting the bark.

2. Compounding agents are auxiliary materials added to improve certain properties of rubber products.

3. Fiber materials (cotton, hemp, wool and various man-made fibres, synthetic fibres and metal materials, steel wires) are used as the skeleton material of rubber products to enhance mechanical strength and limit product deformation. In the raw material preparation process, the ingredients must be accurately weighed according to the formula. In order to make the raw rubber and the compounding agent mix uniformly with each other, the material needs to be processed.

The raw rubber should be dried in a 60-70℃ drying room before being cut and broken into small pieces. The compounding agent has a block shape. Such as paraffin, stearic acid, rosin, etc. should be crushed. If the powder contains mechanical impurities or coarse particles, it needs to be screened and removed; a liquid such as pine tar and coumarone need to be heated, melted, evaporated, and filtered impurities; the compounding agent needs to be dried, otherwise, it is easy to agglomerate and mix. Air bubbles generated when vulcanization cannot be dispersed uniformly will affect product quality.

3. Plasticizing

Raw rubber is elastic and lacks the necessary plastic properties during processing, so it is not easy to process. In order to improve its plasticity, it is necessary to masticate the raw rubber. In this way, the compounding agent is easy to be evenly dispersed in the raw rubber during mixing, and it also helps to improve the permeability of the rubber material and penetrate into the fibre fabric during the calendering and moulding process. And moulding fluidity. The process of degrading the long-chain molecules of raw rubber to form plasticity is called mastication.

There are two methods for plasticizing raw rubber: mechanical plasticizing and thermal plasticizing. Mechanical plasticization is the process of degrading and shortening long-chain rubber molecules under the action of mechanical extrusion and friction of the plasticizer at not too high temperature, and transforming from a highly elastic state to a plastic state. Thermoplastication is to pass hot compressed air into the raw rubber, under the action of heat and oxygen, the long-chain molecules are degraded and shortened, thereby obtaining plasticity.

4. Mixing

In order to adapt to the performance of yoga exercise, and to improve the performance of natural rubber products, different compounding agents must be added to the raw rubber. Mixing is a process in which the plasticized raw rubber is mixed with the compounding agent and placed in a rubber mixer to make the compounding agent completely and uniformly dispersed in the raw rubber through mechanical mixing.

Mixing is an important process in the production process of rubber products. If the mixing is not uniform, the role of rubber and compounding agents will not be fully exerted and the product performance will be affected. The rubber compound obtained after mixing is called compound rubber, which is a semi-finished material for manufacturing various rubber products, commonly known as rubber compound.

5. Forming

In the production process of rubber products, a calender or extruder is used to pre-make a process of various shapes and sizes, which is called molding. The forming methods are:

• 1. Calendering

It is a method of pressing the rubber compound into a film with a certain shape and a certain size through a calender, called calendering. Some rubber products, such as tires, rubber cloth, hoses and other textile fiber materials must be coated with a thin layer of glue. Gluing on the fiber is also called glue or rubbing. The glue application process is usually completed on the calender.

The fiber material needs to be dried and dipped before calendering. The purpose of drying is to reduce the water content of the fiber material, so as to prevent the water from evaporating and foaming and increase the temperature of the fiber material to ensure the quality of the calendering process. Glue dipping is a necessary process before gluing, in order to improve the bonding performance of fiber materials and rubber materials.

• 2. Extrusion molding

It is a method in which a rubber compound with a certain degree of plasticity is put into the hopper of the extruder and passed through various mouth shapes under the extrusion of a screw, which is also called a model for continuous molding. Before extruding, the rubber material must be preheated to make the rubber material soft and easy to extrude, so as to obtain rubber products with smooth surface and accurate size.

• 3. Compression molding

It is also possible to use the molding method to manufacture certain rubber products with complex shapes, such as cups and sealing rings, and place the rubber material in the mold for heating with the help of the formed female and male molds.

6. Vulcanization

The process of converting plastic rubber into elastic rubber is called vulcanization. It is to add a certain amount of vulcanizing agent to the semi-finished product made of raw rubber. In a vulcanizing tank, it is heated and insulated at a specified temperature to make the linear molecules of the raw rubber Through the formation of “sulfur bridges”, they are cross-linked into a solid network structure, so that the plastic compound becomes a vulcanized rubber with high elasticity.

7. Auxiliary measures

In order to achieve performance, auxiliary measures should be added to the production process

1. Increase strength

2. Increase wear resistance

3. High air tightness requirements

4. Increase heat resistance

5. Increase cold resistance

6. Increase flame resistance

7. Increase oxygen resistance and ozone resistance

8. Improve electrical insulation

9. Improve magnetism

10. Improve water resistance

11. Improve oil resistance

12. Improve acid and alkali resistance

13. Improve high vacuum

Conclusion

The above is the production process of natural rubber, so let’s talk about its advantages. First, let’s analyze the barriers to the quality of a yoga mat:

1. Raw material procurement: the source of ensuring product quality.

2. Formula: Yoga mats are of the utmost importance, which is why mats that look the same may differ in quality during use.

3. Machinery: High technology is not only efficiency in modern production, but also exquisite craftsmanship.

4. Accumulation of technical experience: it takes time to accumulate.

Risegroup is one of the leading yoga product company in China, specializing in the production and sales of various yoga products.Has decades of manufacturing and sales experience. At present, it has become one of the main suppliers in Europe, the United States and other regions.

We sell natural rubber yoga mats of various models and specifications. Our yoga mats are of high quality and strong grip. They are very suitable for resale and can also be used as loan/rental mats for yoga studios, clubs or gym customers. Welcome to buy or consult!