Isoprene and Rubber. Part 32.The Constitution of Rubber
Abstract 1. The establishment of the molecular size of high molecular compounds which are composed of fiber molecules by the end-group method of determination is only possible if homologous polymeric series of similar type are concerned. 2. The end-group method assures reliable values with molecules up to a molecular weight of 1000 at the highest. With higher molecular products, like cellulose and rubber, the method is inexact. 3. The molecular weight of rubber and balata may be determined by viscosity determinations in the following two ways: (a) M=ηsp/cKm (b) M=Kc.Kcm. The constants Km and Kcm are determined with low molecular decomposition products. 4. Rubber and balata are composed of fiber molecules, which in one dimension have the magnitude of colloidal particles and in both the others, the dimensions of low molecular substances. 5. In highly viscous rubber solutions, there is the characteristic state of solution. As a result, the sphere of action of the dissolved molecule is greater than the volume at the disposal of the solution. This solution is midway between a true solution and a gel, and is therefore designated as a gel solution. It occurs only with high molecular substances, and is characteristic of them. 6. The readiness with which rubber solutions vary is explained by the fact that the rubber molecules are very sensitive to chemical influences and to changes in temperature as a result of the position of the double bonds. This sensitivity varies with the length of the molecules.