Polymerization Phenomena in the Vulcanization Process
Abstract According to theories developed by the authors, vulcanization consists essentially in the formation of local chemical van der Waals bonds (polarization, orientation bonds) and hydrogen bonds between the molecular chains of rubber. These bonds are formed as a result of the chemical reaction of the rubber with the vulcanizing agent, oxygen, and accelerators, and with other components of the vulcanizing system which contain functional groups. The essential type of chemical bonds consists of atomic groups of the vulcanizing agent (in the case of sulfur vulcanizates, “bridge” sulfur). Hypotheses were advanced concerning the course during vulcanization of the polymerization processes, initiated by the free radicals which are formed by the vulcanizing agent, and leading to the formation of —C — C—bonds between the molecular chains of the rubber. However, no proof of the existence of such processes has been obtained ; furthermore, certain data, for example, data obtained by spectral analysis, contradict such an assumption. The present paper is devoted to a description of experiments which show the existence of polymerization processes involving free radicals in vulcanized systems which contain accelerators of the disulfide and sulfenamide type.