Study on Kinetics of Natural Rubber Vulcanization by S/La(DiPDP)_3

Kinetics of natural rubber （NR） vulcanization by lanthanum O, O＇-diisopropyldithiophosphate [ La（DiPDP）3 ] was studied. La（DiPDP）3 had remarkable accelerating effect on the vulcanization of NR. The rate constant k6 of the reaction that turned polysulphidic cross-links into the modified main chain was higher than that of desulfuration reaction of polysulfidic cross-links （k3 ）. The activation energies （Ea2, Ea3, and Ea6） of the formation, desulfuration, and decomposition of polysulfidic cross-links were 87.57,102.34, and 95.01 kJ · mol^-1, respectively. Activation energy （Eas） of the reaction that turned the cross-link precursors into the modified main chain was 82.67 kJ · mol^-1. It could be concluded that the proportion of polysulphidic cross-links was higher than mono- and di- sulphidic cross-links during induction and curing periods, mono- and di- sulphidic cross-links increased as curing temperature rose. In the temperature range of 140 - 160 ℃, the amounts of polysulphidic cross-links were similar. However, over 160℃, mono- and di- sulphidic cross-links increased rapidly. Moreover, cross-link density of the vulcanizates was determined from the equilibrium-swelling data. A chemical probe detected the concentration of polysulphidic cross-links of vulcanizates. The change trend of the results predicated from equation corresponded to that of the experimental results.

Study on the curing properties of SBR/La-GDTC/SiO_2 composites

A lanthanum glutamic dithiocarbamate（La-GDTC） was synthesized. The vulcanization kinetic and crosslinking structure of styrene butadiene rubber （SBR）/La-GDTC/silica（SiO2） composites were studied via vulcanization kinetic simulation,swelling equilibrium and differential scanning calorimeter. Simulated curing parameters showed that the curing rate k2 of the SBR/La-GDTC/SiO2 composite was significantly higher than that of the SBR/La-GDTC composite. Also,swelling equilibrium test turned out that crosslinking density of SBR/LaGDTC/SiO2 composite evolved to higher level,compared to that of the SBR/La-GDTC composite. Ammonia modified swelling equilibrium interpreted both lanthanum ions and carboxyl groups could react with silanol groups of silica particles. Finally,vulcanization activation energies of SBR/La-GDTC/SiO2 composite were lower than that of SBR/La-GDTC composite,without respect to different approaches of the DSC measurement or Oscillated Disc Rheometer test. All the results showed that the lanthanum ions of La-GDTC could act as the metal ion catalyzer of sulfur vulcanization during the crosslinking process,which could be attributed to the unoccupied orbital of lanthanum ions. Therefore,a La-GDTC bridged structure between SBR and silica particles for the SBR/La-GDTC/SiO2 composite was suggested according to the experimental results.