EFFECT OF WATER SOLUBLE POLYMERS ON RADIATION VULCANIZED NATURAL RUBBER LATEX FILMS

Technological properties of radiation vulcanized latex after mixing with water soluble polymers (WSP) such as poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(ethylene oxide) etc. have been studied in detail. The properties of water noluble polymer incorporated vulcanizates depend mainly on the type of the polymer blended into the latex. Most of the polymers showed a drastic increase in tear strength with polymer content and a reduction in tackiness of the vulcanized films. Radiation processing increases the water soluble protein content in the serum phase whereas that in the rubber phase decreases. Addition of water soluble polymer causes the fast leaching of soluble proteins from the dried films, which reduces the prolonged leaching commonly adopted for rubber vulcanizates. Aging properties of radiation vulcanized films incorporated with water soluble polymers are excellent. The thermal degradation behavior of radiation vulcanized films and that of water soluble polymer incorporated films is almost the same. Transparency of the rubber films can be increased by the addition of suitable water soluble polymers.