TRANSPORT OF STYRENE MONOMER THROUGH NATURAL-RUBBER

The diffusion and transport of inhibitor-free styrene through crosslin ked natural rubber (NR) have been studied at various temperatures. NR has been vulcanized by conventional, efficient, peroxide and mixed vul canization techniques. The dependence of diffusion coefficient on the crosslinking system has been studied for all the systems. The influenc e of temperature on the sorption and the activation energies of sorpti on have been calculated. The interaction parameter, permeability, sorp tion coefficient and molecular weight between crosslinks have been eva luated using the diffusion data. The effect of degree of crosslinking on the sorption characteristics of styrene through NR has also been in vestigated for the different crosslinking systems. The peroxide system showed lowest uptake and the conventional system showed highest uptak e.