Specific Heat of Strained Rubber
Abstract The specific heat of unstrained rubber as a function of temperature has been the subject of many investigations; but only one set of data has been published on the specific heat of strained rubber. (Ornstein, Wouda and Eymers, Proc. Acad. Sci. Amsterdam, 33, 273 1930). Ornstein and his coworkers heated samples of strained vulcanized rubber to 80° C and dropped them into a calorimeter at room temperature. The results they obtained are presented in Figure 1, where the specific heat of one gram of rubber is plotted against extension: As Figure 1 shows, the specific heat diminishes to about two-thirds of its original value when the extension is increased from 0 to 100 per cent (Δl=1); it increases again on further extension. According to Ornstein et al., “the form of the curve for the specific heat is most interesting, as the strong variation of this quantity with the elongation must be of utmost importance for the understanding of the molecular state of rubber.” In order to check these results by another method, the writer measured the specific heat of rubber at room temperature (19° to 21° C) by a process involving temperature changes of less than 0.1° C. Two samples of rubber were chosen. Sample I was highly vulcanized for 30 minutes under 3 atmospheres' pressure. Its composition was as follows: