Abstract
The development of the single rotor internal mixer (at the British Rubber Producers' Research Association) has facilitated the research into mechanochemical reactions of a wide range of high polymers. The term “mechanochemical” has been applied to reactions such as mastication, the mechanism of which involves the primary step of mechanical scission of a polymer chain into polymeric free radicals at a carbon to carbon or other covalent bond. The processes which have been studied previously include the cold mastication of rubberlike polymers, the formation of carbon gel, the interpolymerization of two elastomers during blending, and block copolymerization by the cold mastication of polymers plasticized by vinyl monomers. The evidence for the polymeric free radical nature of these reactions has recently been reviewed.
