| Abstract: | A quantitative characterization of natural rubber, both as the raw polymer, and unaccelerated vulcanized samples containing different proportions of sulfur and ranging from soft to hard rubber, is reported. A value of 86% of the chains of natural rubber could be accounted for against 37% as reported by Harries assuming that levulinic acid is the sole degradation product. About 5% of the chain is present as a 3,4 structure which gives rise to formic acid in the degraded product. A small amount of sulfuric acid is present in the degradation product from the vulcanized samples, which decreases with the increases in the percentage of sulfur in the stock as well as the cure time. A chromatographic technique for the separation of levulinic, acetic, and formic acid in the presence of sulfuric acid is reported. It is observed that the total amount of carbon main chain escaping sulfuration decreases and the amount of insoluble fraction increases with increasing proportion of sulfur in the stock. |
