WHAT IS LATEX? (from Latin, milk)

Origins and properties

"Rubber is a natural substance obtained through the bleeding of latex. Latex, a milky fluid found in various trees (hevea, fiscus) is a substance containing 30 to 40% rubber. To get rubber, the latex must be coagulated with acid. The rubber converts into a solid mass called crêpe; then, it is cut into pieces, shredded and washed in water in a crêper.
Natural rubber is a poor conductor of heat and electricity according to the 1996 Larousse encyclopédique. Traitements et usages. Rubber only became an industrial product after the creation of the Vulcanization process by C. Goodyear, in 1839. Apart from the joint, electric (insulators), shoe, pharmaceutical (rubbers), textile and toy industries, the tire industry remains the most important consumer of natural rubber. According to the 1996 Larousse Encyclopédique, Indian tribes of South America gathered a milky white liquid from the rubber plant (Hevea Brasiliensis) to make liturgical objects or toys (the first known ball is made of moulded rubber, for example).


LATEX
Whether man made or straight from the rubber tree, latex is a milky white liquid composed of polymeric rubber particles dispersed in water. Because of its unique specific molecular structure, latex can be stretched (up to 170% of the material) without rupturing or losing its shape and properties.
Both these fundamental properties of latex have made it a staple material in numerous industrial sectors: cosmetics, food, printing, medical, linens
Whipped with air and vulcanized, latex forms a foam.
After undergoing a many-stepped manufacturing process: foaming, gelling, vulcanizing, washing and drying, latex foam becomes the uniquely elastic, durable and resilient product that it is.


These unique features make latex the best bedding material.
Industrial applications for rubber are innumerable but today natural latex can be processed in such a manner as to maximize its best features:

  • highly resilient (it keeps its shape),
  • hypoallergenic,
  • antibacterial,
  • dust-mite resistant,
  • breathing power.

So many features that make it a superior mattress in terms of back support, muscular tensions...

The manufacturer of our Escale•Santé mattresses is: www.latexco.be


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