Mastication of Rubber a Study of Some of the Oxidation Rocesses Involved
Abstract The rate of breakdown of smoked sheet, pale crepe, and sprayed-latex rubber in a laboratory internal mixer is a minimum at temperatures around 240° F., and the rate may be increased as much as four- or five-fold by either raising or lowering the temperature 80° F. The high-temperature reaction (above 240° F.) probably is similar to the thermal oxidation which occurs when rubber is heated in air, since the rates of both reactions are increased by increasing the oxygen concentration, and they are reduced by adding antioxidants. The low-temperature reaction (below 240° F.) may involve a mechanical acti-vation of the rubber, as in milling. The rate of this reaction first increases and then remains constant or decreases slightly as the oxygen concentration in the temperature during mastication is increased from about 0.5% to 20% to 100%. Some nitroso compounds are powerful stiffeners of rubber, and they change the softness-retentivity relation, making it more like that of reclaim or semi-vulcanized rubber. The effect of most commonly used “softeners” on the plasticity of rubber is small compared with the effect of changing the mastication temperature ±40° F. Exceptions to this are certain vulcanization accelerators (at high temperatures), hydrazine compounds and thiophenols, which appear to be true mastication acelerators or oxidation catalysts.