The Direct Determination of Oxygen in Rubber. The Adaptation of the Ter Meulen Method to Rubber and Its Application to the Study of Aging

Abstract

Abstract The ter Meulen method for the direct determination of oxygen has been adapted, with modifications, to the analysis of raw and vulcanized rubbers. Raney nickel has been found to be quite effective as the reducing catalyst and to be satisfactorily resistant to sulfur poisoning. The method has been applied to the study of the aging of vulcanized rubber in the Geer oven and oxygen bomb. From this study the following conclusions may be drawn: (1) The increase in combined oxygen is greater in the oxygen bomb than in the Geer oven. (2) Deterioration of rubber in the oxygen bomb involves oxidation primarily, whereas that occurring in the Geer oven involves not only oxidation but also thermal decomposition followed by volatilization of oxidation products. (3) The effectiveness of an antioxidant in retarding the absorption of oxygen in oxygen-bomb aging agrees well with its ability to maintain the physical properties of the stock in which it is present. (4) The deterioration in physical properties of a rubber stock in the oxygen bomb during the early stages of aging is a linear function of the increase in combined oxygen. For stocks containing antioxidants and diphenylguanidine as the accelerator, an increase in combined oxygen of approximately 1.2% corresponds to a decrease in tensile strength of 50%. (5) The relationship of increase in combined oxygen to decrease in tensile strength seems to be affected not only by antioxidants, but also by accelerators of vulcanization.