ELASTOMERS - SULFUR OR PEROXIDE CROSS-LIN KED - CHEMICAL-ANALYTICAL STUDY

The chemical determination of sulfur gives a first impression of the v ulcanization system of crosslinked elastomers. A more precise characte rization is obtained by means of chromatographic methods, i.e. by iden tifying the products which originated from thermal degradation of the cross-linking reagents (sulfur, sulfur donors, peroxides). The vulcani zation additives used (accelerator, retarder) can be determined on the basis of the degradation products of sulfur-linked material. Evolved- Gas-Analysis (EGA) and pyrolysis-GC with adequate detectors (mass spec trometer, flame-emission detector) proved to be very successful as che mical-analytical methods for such investigations.