The Story Of Neoprene

In short, neoprene is a foamed synthetic rubber. Developments in the way neoprene is made and the materials it's made from mean that wetsuits today are very different.

 

Neoprene has been around since the 1930s, but it wasn't until the 1950s that it was used to make wetsuits. Developments in the way neoprene is made and the materials it's made from mean that wetsuits today are very different. Different brands use different types of neoprene, which greatly affects the warmth and performance of a wetsuit.

 

What is Neoprene?

In short, Neoprene is a foamed synthetic rubber. Technically, Neoprene is a polymer (a large molecule made up of repeating structural units) called polychloroprene, produced by the polymerization (chemical reaction) of chloroprene. Chloroprene is the monomer (a molecule that chemically combines with other molecules to form a polymer) in this process.

 

In other words, Neoprene is made through a chemical reaction using Neoprene. The Chloroprene binds all the molecules of this reaction together, leaving us with Polychloroprene chips. These chips are melted and mixed with a foaming agent and carbon pigment, then baked in an oven to expand them. The result is then sliced like bread, leaving smooth sheets of Neoprene. Nylon fabric can then be laminated to the Neoprene to give it strength.

 

 

 

Neoprene: A Brief History

During the 1920s the increasing demand for natural rubber led to higher and higher prices, sparking a search for an equivalent synthetic rubber. It was during 1930 that a chemist in DuPont's fundamental research group created neoprene. Experiments by several people in the early 1950s helped make neoprene the number-one material for wetsuits (although other materials were used, especially in Europe). But at that time neoprene was weak, tore easily, and was hard to put on. The lamination of fabric to neoprene in the 1960s resolved this problem and led to the modern wetsuits we use today.

 

The 1960s also saw a new type of neoprene pioneered by Japan's Yamamoto Corporation. Instead of traditional oil-based neoprene, Yamamoto developed special technology to convert the calcium carbonate from limestone into chloroprene rubber chips, producing limestone neoprene.

 

Limestone Neoprene

Limestone neoprene has a very high microporous structure. These independent closed cells (air bubbles) within the neoprene are packed together at an extremely high density. While oil-based neoprene has a cell permeability of 60-70%, limestone neoprene has a cell permeability of 94%. In simple terms, this means that limestone neoprene has far more air bubbles inside the rubber than other brands (over 30% to be exact) and a much lower density than oil-based neoprene.

 

Due to this microporous structure, limestone neoprene offers several distinct advantages to the functionality of a wetsuit compared to traditional oil-based neoprene:

1. It is more impermeable

2. It weighs less

3. It is warmer

4. It is more durable

5. It is stretchy

 

Is Neoprene Environmentally Friendly?

We have to say that any neoprene is not completely environmentally friendly to our planet and environment. However, there are two very different types of neoprene, oil-based neoprene, and limestone-based neoprene, which have very different properties. So, the question should be: "Can one type of neoprene be more environmentally friendly than another?"

 

The reason why limestone neoprene is more "green" depends on the fact that it uses more sustainable and less toxic resources in its production process, as well as the fact that it has a longer lifespan. Yamamoto limestone neoprene is arguably more environmentally friendly than petrochemical neoprene, but there is still a long way to go before wetsuits and their production are truly green.