Network-bound characteristics of novel accelerator cum antioxidant in natural rubber

Abstract

The persistence of antioxidants in rubber products for long periods is a major concern for long-term stability. Many workers have tried to get antioxidants chemically bound to rubbers for maintaining a constant level of properties. With a few exceptions the results of such investigations suffer from limitations. Network-bound antioxidants are difficult to consider for general purpose applications, and there is a need for the development of simple antioxidants which can be directly used as additives to show network-bound characteristics. A novel class of multifunctional accelerator cum antioxidant, which has been developed in the authors' laboratory, functions as an accelerator during vulcanization and as an antioxidant during service. These compounds have been observed to be linked to rubber network during vulcanization. Investigations of the network-bound characteristics of one of those compounds are reported in the present communication.