Polysulphide elastomers preparation

The first poly sulphide elastomer was discovered in 1924 by Patrick during an attempt to prepare ethylene glycol by hydrolysis of ethylene dichloride. Commercial production was begun in 1929 by the Thiokol Chemical Corp. (U.S.A.). The current consumption of polysulphide elastomers, compared to that of other elastomers, is very small, use being restricted mainly to special applications involving resistance to oils and solvents. 

The sodium polysulphide solutions used for the preparation of polysulphide elastomers generally have a rank of approximately 2 for elastomers with a high sulphur content which have especially good solvent resistance, a rank of about 4 is used. In general, the rank of a polymer is close to that of the sodium polysulphide solution from which it is formed. 

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