Studies on the Joule Effect in Rubber. I. The Thermal Effect on Stretched Vulcanized Rubber

The experiments may be summarized as follows: 1. With an increase in the time of cure, the elongation and heating elongation diminish and the Joule effect increases. 2. An increase in the vulcanization coefficient is followed by a decrease in the elongation and heating elongation and an increase in the Joule effect. The increase in the Joule effect, however, has a limit. 3. An organic accelerator reduces the elongation and heating elongation and increases the Joule effect. 4. The greater the degree of mastication the greater the elongation and the heating elongation and the less the Joule effect. 5. By exposure to ultra-violet radiation, the elongation and heating elongation are increased and the Joule effect decreased. 6. A filler increases the heating elongation and decreases the elongation and the Joule effect. Thus samples with relatively high elongations at a definite tension have relatively high heating elongations and low Joule effects. Such specimens seem to have been affected by the disaggregation and depolymerization of the rubber molecules. The effects of the time of cure, mastication, and exposure to ultra-violet radiation prove this fact. Vulcanization increases the Joule effect, but on the other hand, it is accompanied by a disaggregation and depolymerization of the rubber molecules, so the increase in the Joule effect with the progress of vulcanization has a limit. On vulcanization with an accelerator, the combination of sulfur occurs so rapidly that the increase in the Joule effect is predominant. A filler, such as carbon black, behaves only as a diluent of Joule effect. These results lead to the conclusion that the more highly polymerized rubber molecules and their sulfur compounds seem to be the chief factor in the Joule effect of vulcanized rubber.