The Preparation and Properties of Highly Purified Rubber

Abstract

Abstract A method is described for obtaining highly purified Hevea rubber, 99.9 per cent pure hydrocarbon, by addition of soap to ammonia-preserved latex to displace the protein from the rubber particle surfaces, followed by repeated creaming, solubilization in hexane, centrifuging, precipitation, and extraction with acetone. Prevention or limitation of oxidation of the pure hydrocarbon was obtained by work in darkness, or by treatment of the latex with pyrogallol and extraction with pyrogallol in acetone. Results are given on the vulcanization behavior of highly purified rubber, showing marked improvement in resilience, while there are remarkable differences in the mechanical properties of vulcaniz zates from sol and gel fractions in some mixes.