EPDM Basics: Chemical Compatibility and Important Benefits You Need to Know.
Before getting to know about EPDM Rubber, let’s have a look upon Rubber. When the word rubber comes to mind we probably think of tyres, rubber bands, gloves, erasers etc. But the actual range of applications and products can blow up our minds. It is been widely used in the manufacturing of thousands of products and the areas of application spans around the whole world from home/ kitchen utensils to defense, construction to outer space, toys to automotive, agriculture to shipping etc. Where ever you go, you will be able to see and feel it, but in different forms.
We can classify Rubber into two types
- Natural Rubber
- Synthetic Rubber
As the name indicates, the Natural Rubber is made from the white milky liquid called Latex that comes from a tree species called Hevea brasiliens, often known as Rubber tree.
And synthetic rubbers are made in chemical plants by synthesizing from petroleum by-products and other minerals. It is basically an artificial polymer which has the property of undergoing elastic stretch ability or deformation under stress and can return to its previous form without permanent deformation.
Any Rubber in its raw form cannot be used for the manufacturing process. In the raw form, the molecules in rubber are long chains that are tangled up and that links will be weaker. Here comes the process called the Vulcanization. We add certain chemicals such as Sulphur which acts as the main crosslinking agent and others such as Activators, Accelerators, Pre-vulcanizing inhabitants, Anti-oxidant agents etc. to the rubber to achieve the required properties. The added sulphur atoms help to form extra bonds between the rubber molecules, which are known as cross-links. The weaker links will become stronger cross-links, tying the molecules together, thus making them harder to pull apart. Depending on the chemicals added the properties can be varied and can be very hard, soft, resilient etc. Check out rubber chemical dispersion manufacturer in Kerala