The effects of curing conditions on physical properties of syndiotactic 1, 2-polybutadiene (1, 2-PB) vulcanized with sulfur chloride (S
2Cl
2) were studied in the range of 1 to 10wt% in S
2Cl
2 concentration in solvents such as
n-hexane, cyclohexane, benzene, carbon tetrachloride, liquid paraffin, etc., and in the range of 0.2 to 1.0mm in thickness of its 1, 2-PB samples. Tensile properties of the vulcanizates obtained by immersing of 1, 2-PB in S
2Cl
2 solution (sheet curing method) were found to depend largely on the heterogeneity of the distribution of crosslinks in the sample. The best physical properties of the vulcanizates were obtained by curing under conditions such as 5wt% of S
2Cl
2 in
n-hexane solution, 0.4mm in the sample thickness. Excellently homogeneous distribution of combined sulfur in the vulcanizates and good physical properties were obtained by pre-immerseing and swelling the sample sheets in pure solvent, followed by curing with S
2Cl
2 solution (swollen sheet-curing method).
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