The Determination of Free Sulfur by a Volumetric Method Part II

Abstract

Abstract 1. The method previously described for the volumetric determination of free sulfur in vulcanized rubber has been compared with the older gravimetric methods in cases where other organic compounds containing sulfur are present in the vulcanizate. 2. The volumetric method gave lower results than the methods involving oxidation of the acetone extract in the case of vulcanized rubber containing aldehydeamine condensation products of thiouram disulfide compounds. This indicated that the sulfur combined with some organic compounds was not reduced by the reagents used. 3. The results with the accelerator tetraethylthiouram disulfide showed that in some cases part of the sulfur in organic compounds was reduced under the conditions of the reaction. 4. The acetone-soluble and the acetone-insoluble portions of brown substitute contain organic sulfur compounds. Part of the sulfur in these compounds was reduced to hydrogen sulfide by the action of nascent hydrogen. 5. The sulfur compounds present in white substitute were stable toward the reducing agents used in the estimation of free sulfur. 6. The sulfur compounds formed by the vulcanization of ebonite were in part reduced to hydrogen sulfide with tin and acid. Variations in the composition of the mixing and in the vulcanizing conditions altered the amount of these reducible compounds. 7. The volumetric method previously described cannot be used for the determination of the free sulfur in ebonite, brown substitute or in vulcanized rubber containing brown substitute. In the case of vulcanized rubber containing brown substitute or of ebonite the method can be used to determine the amount of sulfur in the acetone extract. 8. The volumetric method can be employed for the determination of the free sulfur in soft vulcanized rubber containing white substitute and in reclaimed rubber.