Vulcanization definitions

Vulcanization takes place in this instance without the action of heat; but it is usual to subject the goods for a short time to a temperature of 40° C. after their removal from the solution, in order to drive off the liquid which has been absorbed, and to ensure a sufficient action of the chloride of sulphur.

Vulcanization is then effected by steam heat, and, the preparation on the cloth being softened by water, the sheet of rubber is readily removed.

When a manufactured article has been saturated with sulphur in the melted sulphur bath, the heat necessary for vulcanization may be obtained either by highpressure steam, by heated glycerin, or by immersion in a sulphur bath heated to about 140° C. In this last case absorption of the sulphur and its intimate combination with the rubber occur simultaneously.

Sulphur when warmed with caoutchouc combines with it, and on this fact the vulcanization of rubber depends, and also the production, with an excess of sulphur, of the hard black material known as vulcanite or ebonite.

When the vulcanization of rubber is carried too far, from the presence of a very large proportion of sulphur and an unduly long action of heat, the caoutchouc becomes hard, horn-like, and often black.