Rubber Accelerators

Sustainable and Safer Accelerators for the Latex Industry

Abstract
Diene containing latex polymers utilise sulphur vulcanisation along with individual or mixtures of accelerator types (dithiocarbamates, thiurams and thiazoles) to produce effective practical cost effective vulcanisates.

However the traditional accelerators have two major concerns in their use:
• Potentially harmful nitrosamines and residual nitrosatable matter
• Type IV allergic reactions
Legislation and market demand from numerous natural and synthetic latex manufacturing and application areas requires a solution to the above concerns.

Robinson Brothers Ltd have developed and commercialised two approved sustainable and safer accelerators DIXP (Robac AS100) and ZDNC (Arbestab Z) that produce equivalent technical and commercial performance to conventionally accelerated products.

The paper will describe their sustainability and technological performance along with documentary evidence of their ability to reduce and eliminate the above concerns in natural rubber and synthetic lattices.

Khirud B Chakraborty and Roger Couchman
Robinson Brothers Limited, West Bromwich B70 0AH UK