verb
- to treat rubber with sulfur and heat to make it stronger and more elastic
Usage: technical; chemistry
Examples
- The factory vulcanizes rubber to make car tires.
- Charles Goodyear discovered how to vulcanize rubber in 1839.
- Vulcanized rubber is much more durable than raw rubber.
- The company vulcanizes latex to create waterproof materials.
- Without vulcanizing the rubber, the product would crack in cold weather.
- The process to vulcanize rubber requires precise temperature control.