Premium
A study on the thermal degradation of rubber in dilute solutions
Author(s) -
Sarfare P. S.,
Bhatnagar H. L.,
Biswas A. B.
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1963.070070619
Subject(s) - activation energy , natural rubber , cyclohexane , decalin , reaction rate constant , degradation (telecommunications) , kinetics , bond cleavage , ether , polymer chemistry , materials science , butyl rubber , molecule , chemistry , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , catalysis , physics , telecommunications , quantum mechanics , computer science
The kinetics of low‐temperature (60–100°C.) thermal degradation of deproteinized and deresinified petroleum ether soluble fraction of natural rubber in two chemically inert solvents, cyclohexane and trans ‐decalin, have been studied. The changes in M w , A 2 , and ( r 2 ) 1/2 at various stages of degradation have been obtained from the lightscattering data. The rate constants and the energy of activation for chain scission have been calculated from the observed variation in M u . The scission has been found to be random and the average energy of activation is 25.8 kcal./mole. This low‐energy requirement suggests the presence of weak links in the rubber molecule which get ruptured at low temperature.