Activity of Water-Soluble Dithiocarbamate Accelerator

Manufacturer: We were reviewing our natural rubber latex compound formulations to study the rate and efficiency of our accelerator systems. Our consultant advised us that for maximum rate of vulcanization, we should look into the use of water-soluble dithiocarbamate. However, we did not achieve the result expected by our consultant. Can you help?

John Woon (Senior Latex Consultant): This question had been asked before in this forum. 

I'm not surprised at all that you did not obtain better result from water-soluble accelerator because your consultant  was wrong!

Although the advantages of using water-soluble dithiocarbamates are the ease of use when being added to the latex and there is no concern over the dispersion and the particle size of the accelerator as experienced with the insoluble zinc salts, it is less active than the zinc salt counterparts. Also, it could be easily leached out before vulcanization.

Also, water-soluble accelerators might upset the alkalinity of the latex compound since they are considered as electrolytes.