The Influence of Vulcanization on Oxidizability in Relation to Aging. A Preliminary Study
Abstract Because of its preliminary character, the present investigation does not admit any definite conclusions. Rather, by bringing out clearly the various complications which arise in studying the oxidizability of rubber, especially when the aim is to establish a parallelism between oxidizability and the ill-defined phenomenon of aging, the investigation has shown the many difficulties in general involved in the problem. These complications are to a certain extent attributable to the nature of the phenomenon itself which has been measured, i. e., the oxidizability; but for the most part they owe their origin to the nature of the substance studied, and especially to its heterogeneous character. For these reasons the uncertainty in the results is increased by vulcanization, and the more vigorous the treatment, the greater is this uncertainty. As a result, considerable fluctuation in the measurements occurred. This is the reason why, in the past as well as now, so much emphasis has has been laid on the advisability of considering as significant only relatively large differences in measurements when drawing conclusions from them. With these reservations in mind, the facts which emerge from this opening work may be reviewed briefly. First of all, it may be stated that, as a principle, the higher the percentage of combined sulfur, the greater is the oxidizability of rubber. In other words, it is, in a different guise, the principle accepted by the majority of technologists, and which Martin expressed in a particularly clear fashion, viz., that the lower its state of vulcanization, the more stable is rubber.