Studies of Conditions Affecting the Vulcanization of Rubber. IV. Heat Reaction during Vulcanization
Abstract The heat reaction during vulcanization was traced by means of a differential thermocouple, of which one contact point was placed in a sealed glass tube enclosed in the sample and the other in the heating medium of a small electric furnace, e. g., asbestos yarn windings. Specially prepared rubber precipitated from latex by acetone was milled with varying quantities of sulfur and was vulcanized at 155° C. The heat change was observed during the vulcanization. The curves are shown in Fig. 1. Although the absolute or relative amount of heat evolved seems to be shown by the ordinate of the curves, it is not the case because of the uneven thermal resistivity of the samples. From these curves, therefore, it may only be seen that the profiles of them are similar to each other, showing maximum points at 60 to 70 minutes and decreasing asymptotically to a horizontal line, i. e., the temperature of the heating medium of the furnace. It is observed that the maximum points lie at about the same period, though the sulfur contents of the samples were varied. Similar results are shown by Perks (J. Soc. Chem. Ind., 1926, 142T). The present author analyzed the vulcanizates corresponding to the maximum points of the curves, the results of which are shown in the following table.