Question
Discuss the main purpose of vulcanization of rubber.
Solution
Natural rubber becomes soft at high temperature (> 335K) and brittle at low temperatures.(<283K). To improve physical properties of rubber, vulcanisation is carried out. This process consists of heating a mixture of raw rubber with sulphur and an appropriate additive at a temperature range between 373K to 415K. On vuclcanisation, sulphur forms cross links at the reactive sites of double bonds and thus the rubber gets stiffened.
