Zinc Oxide In the United States Rubber Industry – A Journey of Discovery and Mystery

The real meat of this paper will examine some of the “mystery” involved in the rate of cross linking in sulfur cured rubber parts; and how the morphology of zinc oxide plays a role.

The presentation will include estimates of the United States ZnO Demand; Supply; Capacity; Capacity utilization; and possible explanation of why, with a constant or decreasing market demand, do the London Metal Exchange inventories and price of zinc metal go up simultaneously?

We will conclude with a review of zinc metal price history and perhaps a price projection.