Anode Process for Rubber Articles and Coatings
Abstract THE term “anode process” has been chosen and used widely in the trade to designate a fundamental method for the production, directly from rubber latex, rapidly, and in one application, of articles and coatings of the highest grade of unmasticated rubber. Rubber latex, a milky exudation from the bark of rubber trees, is composed chiefly of tiny particles of rubber suspended in a water phase or serum, not unlike globules of butter fat in milk. Rubber latex contains small amounts of many organic compounds and inorganic salts. Some of these non-rubber materials, such as the proteins and resins, are considered to be adsorbed on the surfaces of the rubber particles and to be responsible for many of the colloidal characteristics of latex. As it comes from the tree, the latex is unstable and coagulates easily, but, when stabilized with ammonia, it can be safely shipped and stored for long periods. Like most colloidal particles in suspension in an alkaline medium, the rubber particles of ammoniated latex are negatively charged through the adsorption of hydroxyl anions. The particles, many as small as 1/25,000 inch in diameter, are in constant oscillation (Brownian movement) and are kept from hitting one another and sticking together (coagulating) by the repulsion of their electric charges. When the hydroxyl ions are neutralized or otherwise removed from the particles, the electric repulsion between particles disappears and coagulation results.
Review of Lam et al. “Effects of Inorganic Salts on the Heterogeneous OH Oxidation of Organic Compounds: Insights from Methylglutaric Acid-Ammonium Sulfate”