Oral Session

Abstract – In this study, irradiation of natural rub-ber latex using pulsed plasma cathode electron beam system has been attempted. Fundamentally different from the conventional hot filament elec-tron sources, the present pulsed plasma cathode electron beam can be used for vulcanization proc-ess with large area of irradiation (150 × 650 mm), low electrical power consumption (< 9 kW), and high efficiency. The evaluation results show that after electron beam irradiation at 150 kV 18 A on old natural rubber latex with stirring method, an increase of the tensile strength up to 12.3 MPa can be achieved without any chemical additive or sensi-tizer. Higher tensile strength until 18.0 MPa can be provided on fresh natural rubber latex. It suggests that the present system can be applied as a new type of electron accelerator for cross-linking of natural rubber latex. 1