No abstract

The best method for obtaining the free energy of formation of rubber is by making use of the third law of thermodynamics. This makes necessary the determination of heat-capacity values of rubber from room temperature down to temperatures sufficiently low to apply an empirical formula for obtaining the values below this lower temperature. From these heat-capacity values the entropy may be obtained. Then from this latter value, along with the entropy values of carbon (graphite) and gaseous hydrogen and the heat of formation of rubber, a reliable value for the free energy of formation of rubber may be calculated. Several investigators have previously determined the heat capacities of rubber, but their observations were not made at temperatures sufficiently low to permit accurate extrapolation to the absolute zero in order to apply the third law. Furthermore, in the previous work the possibility that rubber at low temperatures might exist either as a metastable amorphous form or as a crystalline form was not clearly recognized. In the present investigation the aim was not only to extend the temperature range but also to obtain data of a higher order of accuracy than that previously reported.