As they age, rubber seals and molded products can undergo detrimental changes to their physical properties and become unusable due to excessive hardening, softening, cracking, crazing, or other surface degradations.
Synthetic rubber is directly tied to the petrochemical value chain, making it highly sensitive to swings in crude oil markets. Volatility affects not just raw material costs, but also supply availability, energy inputs, and pricing behavior across the value chain.
Synthetic rubber production begins in the oil refinery, where crude oil is converted into naphtha and then broken down into key chemical intermediates. These feedstocks are transformed into long-chain polymers and subsequently engineered through controlled processing and mixing to achieve precise performance characteristics.
As they age, rubber seals and molded products can undergo detrimental changes to their physical properties and become unusable due to excessive hardening, softening, cracking, crazing, or other surface degradations.
ASTM International (formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials) developed the ASTM D 2000 Standard to streamline the specification of synthetic rubber via standardized line call-outs.
Most molded rubber components are made from specialized synthetic rubber compounds, each with its own unique set of properties. Archer experts help customers determine which compound will yield the best results for each part.
All rubber molding methods rely on a combination of heat and pressure to transform uncured rubber into precisely-molded components. The three primary rubber molding methods are: compression molding, transfer molding, and injection molding.
When OEMs need a new source for existing parts they may consider "takeover tooling," which is the process of transferring tooling from one supplier to another. It's a good way to save the time and avoid the cost of new tooling, but there are some risks to be aware of.
