Raman Spectroscopic Studies of the Vulcanization of Rubbers. III. Studies of Vulcanization Systems Based on 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole
Abstract The shoulder observed at approximately 440 cm−1 in Raman spectra of CB vulcanizates prepared from MBT based vulcanizing systems has been shown to consist of two components. There are Raman lines contributing at 440 cm−1 and 424 cm−1. The former is due to ZnO present as an extra-network material while the latter appears to be associated with polysulfidic structures. The Raman line at 505 cm−1 seen in extracted vulcanizates prepared from CB-MBT-Sulfur-ZnO-Lauric acid recipes does not appear to be solely due to disulfidic structures. The major contribution appears to be associated with an unsaturated cyclic sulfide and is most probably due to a structure of the type (I). If the assignment to cyclic sulfidic structures such as (I) is confirmed, it will have major significance with regard to the mechanism of accelerated sulfur vulcanization.