Study on sulfur vulcanized natural rubber formulated with nitrosamine safe diisopropyl xanthogen polysulfide/tertiary butyl benzothiazole sulphenamide binary accelerator system

An outstanding interest on elimination of nitrosamine generation in traditional sulfur vulcanization systems has led to introduce nitrosamine safe accelerator/s to produce safe natural rubber (NR) vulcanizates. It is an effective way to prevent formation of carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds during manufacture of rubber products. In the present study, behavior of nitrosamine safe binary accelerator system consisting of diisopropyl xanthogen polysulfide (DIXP) with commonly used non-regulated accelerator N-tert-butyl-2-benzothiazole sulfenamide (TBBS) was investigated in efficient sulfur vulcanization of NR. Cure characteristics, physico-mechanical properties and crosslink density of vulcanizates prepared with different combinations of the accelerator system were evaluated and compared with those of individual accelerators. The study reveals that moduli and strength properties of the vulcanizate prepared with DIXP accelerator are inferior to those of the vulcanizate prepared with TBBS accelerator. Nevertheless, optimum cure time of the DIXP compounds is lower in comparison to TBBS compounds. Moreover, progressive replacement of DIXP with TBBS in the accelerator system showed a synergistic effect in regard to cure characteristics and physico-mechanical properties.