Glossary of Rubber Terms
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Definitions of Rubber Terms and Terminology
- Compound
- An uncured rubber composition including the rubber, oil, carbon black, curatives, etc.
- Compression Set
- The decrease in thickness of a test specimen 30 minutes after removal from a device in which the specimen has been subjected to compression deformation.
- Cure
- An irreversible process during which a rubber compound through a change in its chemical stucture (cross–linking, for example), becomes less plastic and more resistant to swelling by organic liquids and elastic properties are conferred, improved or extended over a greater range of temperature. Cure and vulcaniztion are interchangeable terms as they share the same definition.
- Durometer
- An instrument for measuring the hardness of rubber and plastic.
- Elongation
- The percentage of original length to which a rubber compound is stretched.
- Hardness
- The relative resistance of rubber to indentation. Usually a Shore A2 Hardness tester (Durometer) is used to measure hardness.
- Polymer
- Many monomer units chemically linked together in repeating structural units. Rubber polymers available at WARCO BILTRITE include: Neoprene, Butyl, EPDM, Nitrile (Buna–N), Natural Rubber, SBR, Silicone, Fluoroelastomer (including Viton®) and Hypalon®. Get more information about these rubber polymers >
- Polymerization
- Process of linking two or more molecules to form a new molecule having different properties.
- Synthetic Rubber
- An elastic substance produced from monomers such as butadiene, styrene and isoprene. Because of superior performance (tread wear, resistance to groove cracking, lower cost) synthetic rubbers have largely replaced natural rubber.
- Tensile Strength
- The maximum stress expressed on pounds per square inch (mega pascal) of a cured rubber compound.
- Vulcanization
- An irreversible process during which a rubber compound through a change in its chemical stucture (cross–linking, for example), becomes less plastic and more resistant to swelling by organic liquids and elastic properties are conferred, improved or extended over a greater range of temperature. Cure and vulcaniztion are interchangeable terms as they share the same definition.
