Use of some castor oil derivatives as surfactants in NR latex industry

Abstract

Surfactants which find applications in local NR latex industry are chiefly imported chemicals. With a view to replace some of these chemicals with locally producible materials, in this study, castor oil extracted in this country was converted chemically into its derivatives - castor soap (potassium ricino-leafee) and sulphated castor oil. The effects of addition of each derivative on the stability and foaming behaviour of NR latex and on emulsification of a liquid softener (paraffin oil) were investigated. Further, the derivative, sulphated castor oil was also tested for its suitability as a dispersing agent in the preparation of an accelerator (ZMBT) dispersion. To assess the performanc-es of these derivatives in the above determinations, parallel tests were also carried out using potassium oleate in the first two tests and Dispersol LN (sodium salt of naphthalene formaldehyde sulphonate ) in the third test.