The U.S. Synthetic Rubber Program turned a wartime scarcity into a global rubber standard by accelerating synthetic routes before price controls could end.
US PMF/CRP-backed plants pioneered butadiene- and styrene-based polymers that later underpinned everyday tires, gloves, and countless covert industrial uses.
Following the program, private firms secretly diverged into dope-dyed polymers, creating color-stable rubbers long before consumer fashion demanded it.
The program shuffled global rubber markets so dramatically that by 1945, synthetic rubber supply chains rivaled natural rubber in strategic importance.
The U.S. Synthetic Rubber Program turned a wartime scarcity into a global rubber standard by accelerating synthetic routes before price controls could end.
US PMF/CRP-backed plants pioneered butadiene- and styrene-based polymers that later underpinned everyday tires, gloves, and countless covert industrial uses.
Following the program, private firms secretly diverged into dope-dyed polymers, creating color-stable rubbers long before consumer fashion demanded it.
The program shuffled global rubber markets so dramatically that by 1945, synthetic rubber supply chains rivaled natural rubber in strategic importance.
