Attached
Much attention has focused on nitrosamines in the rubber industry-both in
workplace air and in the rubber products themselves. Thus while a correlation
between accelerator usage and nitrosamine formation is well known, the efficiency
of such conversion appears to be highly variable.
Since nitrosamines are derivatives of secondary amines, as are many rubber
chemicals (accelerators and sulphur donors) a correlation between accelerator
usage and nitrosamine formation is not surprising, the link having been established
as long ago as 1980. The proposed work will involve a detailed investigation of the
way in which Nitrosamine-free accelerators influence the Kinetics of cross-linking in
natural elastomers.
