The effectiveness of polymer additives as determined by torsional braid analysis

Abstract

AbstractTorsional braid analysis has been explored as a means of providing a quantitative measure for the effectiveness of polymer additives. Quantitative determinations have been made of antioxidant activity of selected compounds when formulated with certain elastomers prone to oxidative crosslinking on heat aging. The torsional braid technique has been used to determine the time dependence of the sharp torsional modulus increase which corresponds to a change from a rubbery to a highly crosslinked state. This time dependence is taken as a measure of the rate of oxidative crosslinking in heat‐aged elastomer films coated on a Fiberglas braid. In this manner an assessment of antioxidant activity can be made. The effect of concentration and aging temperature on antioxidant activity can be made also. It has been also possible to use this technique to study the effect of structural changes in an antioxidant on its resultant activity. Feasibility studies have also been made on antiozonants in natural rubber and cis‐polybutadience at three temperatures. A value of 10.9 Kcal/mole was calculated for the activation energy for the oxidative crosslinking reaction of cis‐polybutadiene.