Sulfur vulcanization in the processing and compounding of rubber by Hancock and his colleagues led to a more reliable process. Around 1900, disulfiram was introduced as a vulcanizing agent, and became widely used. In 1905 George Oenslager discovered that a derivative of aniline called thiocarbanilide accelerated the reaction of sulfur with rubber, leading to shorter cure times and reducing energy consumption. This breakthrough was almost as fundamental to the rubber industry as Goodyear's sulfur cure. Accelerators made the cure process faster, improved the reliability of the process and enabled vulcanization to be applied to synthetic polymers. One year after his discovery, Oenslager
Flowers of sulfur Flowers of sulfur Flowers of sulfur (older British spelling flowers of sulphur) is a very fine, bright yellow sulfur powder that is produced by sublimation and deposition. It is known as ' by apothecaries and in older scientific works. Natural sulfur was also known as brimstone, hence the alternative name flowers of brimstone. Flowers of sulfur were traditionally produced by subliming naturally occurring sulfur, known as "sulphur vivum". Impurities and moisture could cause acid residue in the product, so it was often washed, the result being known as "washed flowers of sulfur" (in Latin, "flores sulphuris loti"). Flowers of sulfur