Abstract

Rubber articles contain various organic additives such as antidegradants, curing agents, and processing aids. It is important to extract and analyze these organic additives. In this paper, various extraction methods of organic additives present in rubber composites were introduced (solvent extraction, Soxhlet extraction, headspace extraction, and solid-phase microextraction), and the extracts were characterized using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Solvent and Soxhlet extractions are easy-to-perform and commonly used methods. Efficiency of solvent extraction varies according to the type of solvent used and the extraction conditions. Soxhlet extraction requires a large volume of solvent. Headspace sampling is suitable for extracting volatile organic compounds, while solid-phase extraction is suitable for extracting specific chemicals. GC/MS is generally used for characterizing the extract of a rubber composite because most components of the extract are volatile and have low molecular weights. Identification methods of chemical structures of the components sep-arated by GC column were also introduced.

Keywords: rubber composite;organic additives;chemical analysis;extraction method;GC/MS