Influence of internal strain on change of crosslink density of natural rubber vulcanizates by thermal ageing

Change of crosslink density of natural rubber (NR) vulcanizates by thermal ageing at 60 degreesC has been studied under swollen conditions in solvents to investigate the influence of internal strain applied to the vulcanizate on the crosslink density change. The internal strain was controlled by swe lling with various solvents such as n-hexane, toluene, tetrahydrofuran (THF ), methanol and water. The order of degree of the swelling is toluene appro ximate to THF > n-hexane > methanol > water. The influence of curing system has been investigated with the vulcanizates cured by the conventional and EV cure systems. After thermal ageing, the apparent crosslink densities of the swollen vulcanizates in n-hexane, toluene and THF decrease irrespective of the cure systems, while that of the swollen vulcanizate in water increa ses. For the swollen vulcanizates in methanol, the apparent crosslink densi ty of the vulcanizate with the conventional cure system after thermal agein g increases while that of the vulcanizate with the EV cure system decreases . The decrement of the apparent crosslink density of the vulcanizate after thermal ageing becomes larger and larger upon increasing the internal strai n. (C) 2001 Society of Chemical Industry.