The Specific Gravity of Preserved Latex

Abstract

Abstract The literature on latex contains a number of references to the specific gravity of fresh latex, but published information on the specific gravity of preserved latex in the condition In which it reaches the consumer appears to be practically non-existent. de Vries and Scholtz and Klotz investigated the specific gravity of undiluted fresh latices of various dry rubber contents, and from their results each deduced the specific gravity of the disperse or rubber phase. The average specific gravity of the rubber globule as deduced by de Vries is 0.914. Scholtz and Klotz's value for the disperse phase is 0.901, which is appreciably lower than that of de Vries. Although. the published literature contains no references to the specific gravity of commercial preserved latex, the Rubber Trade Association of London gives a table of values in its latex contract forms, but details are lacking as to the total number of experimental observations which the table represents. A significant feature is that, by extrapolation of the dry rubber content values to 100 per cent, after the manner of Scholtz and Klotz, the figures obtained for the specific gravity of the rubber disperse phase is 0.912, which agrees fairly well with that of de Vries for fresh latex, and which is considerably higher than that of Scholtz and Klotz. In view of the paucity of information available on the specific gravity of preserved latex, it seemed desirable to obtain additional data and incidentally to make a further check on the published values for the specific gravity of the rubber disperse phase.