The Microstructure of Natural Rubber Latex Films

Abstract

Abstract An electron microscopy technique which has been used to visualize the crosslinked regions in vulcanized blends of dry rubber has now been applied to films made from natural rubber (NR) latex. The method involves swelling the latex film with styrene, polymerizing the styrene, sectioning the sample and then staining with osmium tetroxide to reveal the rubber network when observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The micrographs show the higher ratio of interparticle to intraparticle crosslinks in a sulphur post-vulcanized film as compared with a sulphur prevulcanized film. They also show that, as in dry rubber films, the mesh size of the visible rubber network correlates with the crosslink density of the rubber. The technique also reveals that the crosslink distribution in peroxide prevulcanized latex (PPVL) is significantly different from that in latices prevulcanized using sulphur or radiation.