Natural rubber mainly comes from trifoliate rubber tree. When the skin of this rubber tree is cut open, milky juice will flow out, which is called latex. After being agglomerated, washed, shaped and dried, natural rubber is obtained.

Synthetic rubber is made by artificial synthesis method. Different raw materials (monomers) can be used to synthesize different types of rubber. From 1900 to 1910, chemist C.D. Harris determined that the structure of natural rubber is a polymer of isoprene, which opened the way for synthetic rubber.

In 1910, the Russian chemist SV Lebedev (1874-1934) used sodium metal as an initiator to polymerize 1,3-butadiene into sodium butadiene rubber. Later, many new synthetic rubber varieties appeared, such as Shun Butadiene rubber, neoprene, styrene butadiene rubber, etc. The output of synthetic rubber has greatly exceeded that of natural rubber, of which the largest output is styrene-butadiene rubber.