Behavior of polysulphide rubber (thiokol A) in organic acid solutions

This paper involves the behavior of a polysulphide rubber (thiokol A) in different organic acid solutions. The rubber samples (in acid solutions) were left in a water bath for a period of 1 month, after which time they were taken out, dried and weighed to determine the percentage weight change of the samples over the period. The original acid solutions and the solutions in which the rubber pieces were suspended were then titrated with a standard sodium hydroxide solution and the change in acid strength determined for each. The mass of the thiokol A specimens tested was found to decrease in all cases (mostly greater than a 3% decrease). In terms of the solutions in which the testing took place the pH was found to increase while the molarity showed a general decrease.