The use of smoke acid as an alternative coagulating agent for natural rubber sheets' production.

A comparative study of rubber sheets obtained using formic, acetic, and smoke acid as coagulants is shown for latex obtained from native Amazonian trees and also from commercial cultivated trees. The evaluation of both processes of coagulation was carried out by spectroscopic and physical-chemical analysis, showing no differences in the rubber sheets obtained. This new method of rubber sheet preparation was introduced into Amazonian rainforest rubber tapper communities, which are actually producing in large scale. The physical-mechanical properties were similar among a large sheets made by different rubber tapper communities using this new method.