Rubber Analysis by FTIR -Method for Removing Silicate from Rubber-

Introduction

A silicate is formed from silicon and oxygen, and talc and kaolinite are some typical silicate compounds. Silicon dioxide (silica), which does not contain a metallic oxide, is also a type of silicate. Silicate, like carbonate, is used as an alkaline builder in laundry soap, and is used widely as an additive in rubbers and plastics. When measuring the infrared spectrum of rubber that contains silicate, an extremely large silicate peak appears in the vicinity of 1000 cm-1, which conceals nearby rubber peaks and makes it difficult to perform qualitative analysis. Here we introduce a pretreatment procedure for removing talc, one type of silicate, from rubber which contains talc. For a description of the procedure for removing calcium carbonate, another additive used in rubber, refer to Application News No. A416.

June 28, 2010 GMT