Characterization on the Ozone Oxidation of Raw Natural Rubber Thin Film using Image and FT-IR Analysis

The characterization of the ozone oxidation for raw natural rubber (NR) was investigated under controlled conditions through image and fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis. The ozone oxidation was performed on a transparent thin film of raw NR coated on a KBr window in a dark chamber at $40^{\circ}C$ under low humidity conditions to completely exclude thermal, moisture, or light oxidation. The ozone concentration was set at 40 parts per hundred million (pphm). Before or after exposure to ozone, the image of the thin film for raw NR was observed at a right or tilted angle. FT-IR absorption spectra were measured in the transmission mode according to ozone exposure time. The ozone oxidation of NR was determined by the changes in the absorption peaks at 1736, 1715, 1697, and $833cm^{-1}$, which were assigned to an aldehyde group (-CHO), a ketone group (-COR), an inter-hydrogen bond between carbonyl group (-C=O) from an aldehyde or a ketone and an amide group (-CONH-) of protein, and a cis-methine group ($is-CCH_3=CH-$, respectively. During ozone exposure period, the results indicated that the formation of the carbonyl group of aldehyde or ketone was directly related to the decrement of the double bond of cis-1,4-polyisoprene. Only carbonyl compounds such as aldehydes or ketones seemed to be formed through chain scission by ozone. Long thin cracks with one orientation at regular intervals, which resulted in consecutive chain scission, were observed by image analysis. Therefore, one possible two-step mechanism for the formation of aldehyde and ketone was suggested.