Influence of Exposing Vulcanized Rubber to Light on Its Subsequent Aging in the Dark
Abstract The present experiments confirm the observations of Morgan and Naunton by showing that exposure of vulcanized rubber to light may affect the results of oxygen-bomb aging tests made some days, or perhaps even weeks, afterwards. They show also that a few days' exposure to even diffused daylight may noticeably lower the tensile strength of unaged rubber. With normal, i.e., not transparent, rubbers the effect of light on subsequent aging is small, and indeed does not seem to be noticeable at all in relatively slow aging tests, such as that in the Geer oven. Nevertheless, it is clearly advisable, as a precaution, to avoid unnecessary exposure to light of rubbers that are to be subjected to accelerated aging tests.