The Effect of Heat on Raw Rubber in the Presence and Absence of Air
Abstract During the process of milling or masticating rubber, three agents, namely, mechanical working, heat, and the constituents of the air, are evidently present which may be individually or collectively responsible for the resulting physical changes. The generally accepted explanation of the effects produced is that the mechanical treatment breaks down some form of structure existing in the raw rubber or rubber particles and consequently it is customary to describe material as “overworked” when milling has been carried too far, and to reserve the terms “burnt” and “scorched” for cases in which the heat generated in the process has caused premature vulcanization. The correctness of the assumption that milling is essentially a mechanical operation at first sight seemed to be supported by an experiment made by one of the authors in which the treatment was carried out under a stream of cold water when it was found that the solution viscosity of the material diminished in much the same way as in the normal process, the only apparent difference in the final product being the almost complete absence of the adhesiveness characteristic of milled rubber. Further consideration, however, suggested that though the conditions under which the test was made undoubtedly minimized contact with air and the development of heat, the possibility that oxygen might still play a part was not entirely excluded, while the fact that the bulk of the rubber was kept cold did not necessarily preclude local rises in temperature taking place in the material when passing between the rolls.