Vulcanizing halogen-containing polymers

Claim 1

The process of crosslinking a halogen-containing polymer which consists essentially of heating said polymer in the presence of a basic material and a derivative of 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole selected from those derivatives having one of the following formulas: ##STR8## wherein X is a substituent selected from hydrogen, --CRR'OH, --(CH 2 --CH 2 --O) n H, ##STR9## where n is an integer from 1 to 5, R and R' are selected from hydrogen, alkyl groups containing 1-8 carbon atoms, and aryl, alkaryl and aralkyl groups containing 6 to 8 carbon atoms; R 2 is selected from alkyl groups containing 1-17 carbon atoms, aryl groups containing one to two rings, alkaryl groups containing 7-14 carbon atoms, aralkyl groups containing 7-8 carbon atoms and cyclohexyl groups; R 3 is an alkyl group containing 1-8 carbon atoms; X' is the same as X with the exception of hydrogen; m is an integer from 1 to 10; and Y is selected from zinc, lead, --CRR'--, --CO--, --S--, ##STR10## --SO 2 --, --SS--, ##STR11## where R 4 is selected from alkylene and alkenylene groups containing 1-8 carbon atoms and cycloalkylene, arylene and alkarylene groups containing 6-8 carbon atoms; z is 0 or 1; and R 5 is selected from alkylene groups containing 2-8 carbon atoms, phenylene, methylphenylene and methylenediphenylene.