Modulus of Natural Rubber Crosslinked by Dicumyl Peroxide. I. Experimental Observations

Natural rubber mixed with varying amounts of dicumyl peroxide are crosslinked by heating 120 min at 149° C. The quantitative measure of cross- linking was taken as the amount fp of decomposed dicumyl peroxide, the product of p, the number of parts added per hundred of rubber and f the fraction decomposed during the time of cure. The shear creep modulus G was calculated from measurements of the indentation of a flat rubber sheet by a rigid sphere. The glass transition temperature Tg, was raised about 1.2° C for each part of decomposed dicumyl peroxide. Above (Tg+12) the modulustemperature relations were linear with a slope that increased with increasing crosslinking. The creep rate was negligible except near the glass transition and at low values of fp. Values of G, read from these plots at seven temperatures, were plotted as a function of fp. The linearity of the two plots permits the derivation of the general relation: G=S(fp+B)T+H(fp+B)+A where A, B, H, and S are constants. The lines representing G as a function of fp at each temperature all intersected near the point, fp=0.45 phr, G=2.70 Mdyn cm−2(0.270 MN m−2). . The constants were evaluated as A=2.70 Mdyn cm−2,B=−0.45 phr, S=5.925×10−3 Mdyn cm−2(phr)−1 K−1 and H=0.0684(Mdyn cm−2) (phr)−1. This equation represented satisfactorily all the data obtained at temperatures from —50 to +100° C for values of fp from about 1 to 24 phr.