Stress Relaxation of Natural Rubber During Irradiation

Abstract

Abstract The site of chain scission and crosslinking in vulcanized natural rubber irradiated with 4 MeV electrons has been determined by analysis of stress relaxation data. Sulfur and peroxide vulcanizates of different crosslink densities were prepared and the crosslink densities determined from stress—strain measurements. Stress relaxation was measured during irradiation using modified commercial relaxometers. The specimens were maintained in an atmosphere of nitrogen to minimize oxidative side effects. Scission is deduced to take place in the vicinity of crosslinks, since the rate of continuous stress relaxation is independent of crosslink density. Scission may be associated both with crosslinks initially present and with those subsequently introduced by irradiation. Crosslinking by radiation is largely a random process. However, there is a crosslinking reaction dependent to a slight extent on crosslink density as well as a small contribution from random scission reactions. G values for the random reactions are given.