Abstract
The existence of an equilibrium melting temperature, T0m, at 28 ± 1°, for unstretched natural rubber has been established, using dilatometric methods. The lower melting temperatures previously observed are a consequence of the low temperatures of crystallization and the rapid heating rates employed. From melting point studies of mixtures of the polymer with low molecular-weight diluents, the heat of fusion per repeating unit, ΔHu has been evaluated as 15.3 ± 0.5 cal./g. The values of ΔHu and T0m have then been combined with data of other workers to obtain the following information concerning natural rubber: (1) The variation of melting temperature with applied hydrostatic pressure has been calculated from the Clapeyron equation to be 0.0465° C/atm. (2) The degree of erystallinity resulting from maintaining a sample at 0° until the rate of crystallization is negligible has been calculated, by three independent methods, to be in the range 26 to 31 per cent. (3) Analysis of the stress-strain-temperature relationship has indicated that crystallization is the cause of the large internal energy changes that are observed at relatively high elongations.
Determination of melting temperature of slagmaking mixtures for billet CCM mold by differential thermal analysis method
