I know that the vulcanization process as we currently understand it (basically sulfer + heat to strengthen rubber) hasn't come about until three 1800s with Mr Goodyear, but Aztecs did have ways to take rubber and utilize other components in order to strengthen or "vulcanize" it.
My question is, if I were a Pre-Columbian Aztec engineer that knew what was necessary to create rubber bands, would I have the resources necessary to do so? How would I do this?
Yes.
It is said that the vulcanization of rubber was practiced at least since 2000 BC in Mexico. It is definitely one of the most intriguing things, considering the making and usage of rubber. It’s actually no different as Charles Goodyear came to see.
For a bit of background information, the Panama rubber tree (Castilla elastica) was used to extract its latex for rubber balls, bands, adhesives, and footwear. The tree was known as Ollicuahuitl, meaning «rubber tree» in Nahuatl by Nahuas under the Aztec Triple Alliance. Likewise, in K’iche’ Mayan, it is called Kik’ che’, meaning the same thing, or «tree blood». This was used for their rubber ball game mostly, called ollamaliztli or tlachtli in Nahuatl and Kik’ Tz’enem in K’iche’ Mayan.
Moving on to the actual ingredients and process, you would have to use the latex of Castilla elastica in a heated mixture with the juices of crushed Moonflower vines, or Ipomoea alba, which usually grows near the rubber tree. Two other flowers called Merremia tuberosa and Merremia umbellata were also used (which grew closer). Each of these flowers were used due to their sulfuric content.
Originally an Olmec discovery, this practice was passed down to succeeding civilizations in Mexico. This is also why the Aztecs called the Olmecs and their descendants Olmeca(tl), meaning the «people from the rubber place (Olman)» or «rubber rope», due to their history of rubber trading and taxing among the Mexican civilizations.
The ratio of the flower juice in the mixture determined the utilization of the rubber as well: A 50-50 latex-juice mix for the elasticity found in bouncy rubber balls; a 3:1 latex-juice ratio for the longevity found in shoes; and a 100% latex mix for the strength found in rubber bands and adhesives. This latex-juice mixture would then be formed into strips after being boiled together, twisted around a hard rubber core to form a rubber ball.
As this same study that mentioned the above puts it:
ancient Mesoamerican peoples were the first polymer scientists, exerting substantial control over the mechanical properties of rubber for various applications.
may answer how they indeed did have the necessary equipment and materials for the vulcanization of rubber for rubber bands, balls, shoes, adhesives, and more.