Soft Vulcanized Rubber. Effect of Temperature and Oxygen Pressure on Aging Rate
Abstract IMPORTANT to the manufacturer and consumer of rubber goods are suitable accelerated aging tests for predicting readily the life of rubber articles under the variable storage and service conditions encountered. Since service conditions may involve the exposure of rubber to wide variations of temperature, light, and atmosphere under various types of mechanical strain, there is obviously need for a variety of tests, each designed to emphasize factors which are most important in any given set of service conditions. Since the primary cause of failure of soft vulcanized rubber in service is oxidation, emphasis has been placed on tests which accelerate the oxidation effect. The most widely adopted and generally satisfactory procedure of this type is the Bierer and Davis oxygen bomb method which involves heating the rubber under oxygen pressure. In Bierer and Davis' original publication (2), results were shown on the effect of increasing oxygen pressure in increments of 28.1 kg. up to 112.5 kg. per cm. on the aging of two different rubber compounds at the three temperatures, 50°, 60°, and 70° C. Their results showed that in some cases there was a uniform increase in aging rate with increased pressure and in other cases the rate increased rapidly up to a pressure of 28.7 kg. per sq. cm. but more slowly with further increases in pressure. In a later investigation (3) the same authors employed a pressure of 21.1 kg. per sq. cm. and 60° C. throughout. For the past ten years most laboratories have used an oxygen pressure of 21.1 kg. per sq. cm. and a temperature of 70° C., which may therefore be considered as standard.