Latex or natural rubber is actually a dirty brown and synthetic rubber is typically whitish in color, but neither of those “base rubbers” offer the hardness or wear resistance required. As a result, ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ is added to the compound. Carbon black changes the chemical structure of the rubber to strengthen, improve the physical properties of rubber and strengthen vulcanization. It is the carbon black that makes rubber black.
Non-marketing rubbers use mostly silica powder instead of carbon black; however, you tend to get less wear life as silica doesn’t harden as well as carbon.
