The possibility of prevulcanizing
natural rubber latex via ultraviolet
(UV) irradiation was investigated using 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenylpropanone
as the photoinitiator and 1,9-bis(acryloyloxy)nonane as the coagent.
Effects of the following process variables were assessed on the tensile
strength and the cross-link density of thin films prepared from the
prevulcanized natural rubber (PVNR) latex: the duration of UV irradiation,
the distance between the light source and the latex being irradiated,
the mixing time of the latex with the coagent and the phtoinitiator,
the depth of the latex pool, and the mass ratio of the photoinitiator
to the coagent used. The PVNR films produced under optimal conditions
had nearly 4-fold the tensile strength of the film produced without
UV irradiation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to assess the
UV reactions, and a mechanism was proposed for UV-induced prevulcanization
with the above identified photoinitiator and coagent.
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