Abstract
THE B.I.O.S Overall Report No. 7 on "The Rubber Industry in Germany during the Period 1939-1945" has recently been published (London : H.M. Stationery Office, 1948. 2s. 6d. net). This comprehensive report will be primarily the concern of the rubber technologist, but there are a number of aspects which will interest all scientific workers in the high-polymer field. Perhaps the most interesting is the heat sensitization of latex by the use of polyvinyl ether (‘Igevin M50'), because the process depends upon the curious fact that this material is soluble in latex or water at room temperatures, but becomes insoluble at 35° C., and causes the rubber to coagulate as it separates out. ‘Igevin M50' is used in 3-7 per cent concentration referred to the rubber content, and the mixed solution is indefinitely stable at 25° C., thus contrasting markedly with other heat-sensitizing materials.
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NEWTON, R. Rubber Industry in Germany. Nature 163, 147 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163147b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163147b0