11/16/2015 Types of Rubber Materials ­ Choose the right rubber

Rubber Solutions for Your Needs

Rubber has a great influence on the ways businesses and OEM’s operate. Custom molded rubber
materials serve a variety of purposes, and can often mean the difference between life and death.
Rubber respiratory safety masks for instance, need to be made 100% to specifications and be non­
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defective to properly function and withstand exposure to toxic chemicals and airborne contaminants.
Advanced Rubber Products fully understands the importance of our customers’ rubber needs. Our
team takes full responsibility for product reliability. For example, a polymer insulator, which costs less
than $100 per unit, is designed to blow up and save a $15,000 transformer from destructing. If the
rubber component fails to do its job correctly, the costs quickly grow.
QUOTE

WHAT WE DO Rubber is not only a cost effective means of protecting the most valuable parts of your business, it’s
MOLDING SERVICES also one of the most pliable and durable materials. However, in the process of custom rubber
MATERIALS WE WORK WITH molding, excess material is inevitable. With some smaller and more oddly shaped parts, it can be
EQUIPMENT even more difficult to remove this excess material. Advanced Rubber Products uses the highly
QUALITY ASSURANCE effective and precise process of cryogenic deflashing to remove unwanted or unnecessary rubber
MOLDING PROCESSES from custom molded components. The molded pieces are placed inside a chamber with a
COMPRESSION MOLDING
temperature of minus 60°F, making the excess material extremely brittle. The part is then bombarded
TRANSFER MOLDING with tiny pellets, removing all the excess rubber flash.
INJECTION MOLDING
SILICONE MOLDING
ARP understands the importance of your products and realizes that if an unexpected event occurs
GLOSSARY
(i.e. extreme weather), you may need a large amount of custom rubber products in a short amount of
time. This is why we maintain a well­organized warehouse with extra on­demand products. So if your
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
business requires a large rush order, Advanced Rubber Products is able to fulfill your request at a
moment’s notice. We will store your extra parts so you don’t have to. This is only one part of the
ABOUT ARP
rubber organization process at ARP.

ARP & INDUSTRY NEWS

Advanced Rubber Products ensures the exact specifications and quality of products with Julian Dates

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CONTACT on their custom molded rubber products. As a “born­on date,” the numbers imprinted on our rubber
products detail the date the piece was formed and inspected as well as a code for the rubber
specifications used to create it. ARP’s Julian dating system is compliant with the American National
Standards Institute’s (ANSI) strict regulations.

Choose the Right Rubber

As a contract manufacturer of rubber materials with over 50 years of experience, Advanced Rubber
Products has worked with clients on a wide range of products. We have extensive knowledge of
rubber manufacturing and create products based on our customer’s specialty molding needs.

Advanced Rubber Products is able to mold a wide range of rubber materials. Simply provide us with
your product design and drawing, and we will guide you through each step of the process, which
includes selected the proper rubber material. Our team of experts will work with you and your design
and find the rubber with the exact properties suited for your product and help to bring it to market
quicker.

Below are the more commonly used rubber materials that Advanced Rubber Products is able to
custom mold. Over 75% of ARP’s rubber materials are not black and are available in a variety of
colors and scents at no extra cost.

Natural / Isoprene:
Natural rubber is a polymer of isoprene and has a molecular weight of 100,000 to 1,000,000. An
organic material, sometimes traces of other materials such as proteins, resins and inorganic materials
can be found in high quality natural rubber. Natural rubber is formed in the bark of tropical trees.
Isoprene’s chemical and structural makeup is very similar to natural rubber’s. Both can be used for
similar applications although isoprene rubber has less green strength than natural rubber.

Ethylene Propylene Diene (EPDM)

A synthetic rubber and elastomer characterized by a wide range of applications. The “M” in EPDM
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refers to the compound’s classification in ASTM standard D­1418. EPDM is a very durable, high­
density rubber making it a preferred material for products like gaskets, hoses and seals. The rubber
is extremely resistant to to heat, oxidation and weather due to its stable structure.

Nitrile Rubber (NBR)

Nitrile rubber is a copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile and is used most commonly in sealing
products. NBR is extremely resistant to oil and is therefore used in automotive seals, gaskets and
other products that contact hot oils and fuels. The more nitrile in the product’s composition, the more
resistant to oil it becomes at the expense of flexibility. NItrile rubber is also a very resilient material
making it ideal for products such as cleaning and examination gloves. Gloves made with nitrile rubber
are three times more resistant to punctures than gloves made with natural rubber or isoprene.

Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR)

Styrene butadiene rubber is a synthetic rubber that is more resistant to abrasion than natural rubber.
It is predominantly used in automobile and truck tires as it stands up to heat and cracks and ages
well. The higher the styrene content in the rubber, the harder and less flexible the product becomes.

Silicone Rubber
Silicone rubber is a polymer composed of silicon combined with carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Materials made with this synthetic rubber are extremely resistant to heat and cold, being able to
withstand temperatures ranging from ­80ºF to 400ºF. Resilient and durable, silicone rubber materials
resist prolonged exposure to sunlight, oxygen, ozone, moisture and UV light. Silicone rubber does
have its weaknesses however as products made of the elastomer are subject to tears and abrasions.
During manufacturing, heat is required to vulcanize (cure) the silicone into its rubber­like form.

Butyl Rubber
Butyl is a synthetic rubber, also referred to as isobutylene isoprene. Butyl rubber has a variety of uses
and applications but its true value is its impermeability to air and gases. Butyl is also very resistant to
water and steam, which is why butyl rubber is used in sealants for damp proofing, rubber roof repair
and rubber membrane maintenance. First used as tire inner tubes, butyl rubber is now applied to
sporting ball bladders, gas masks and protective clothing, vial stoppers, explosives, chewing gum and

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is even used as an additive in lubricating oils and motor fuels. The addition of small amounts of
polyisobutylene in lubricating oils results in a significant reduction of oil mist inhaled by a machine
operator.

Polybutadiene
The majority of polybutadiene is produced to manufacture automobile tires. The rubber is resistant to
abrasion, which is why polybutadiene is used to improve treads for large truck tires. The elastomer
can be very flexible, is resistant to electricity, has a high heat tolerance and used to manufacture
various types of elastic objects. Polybutadiene is also a material used to manufacture golf balls.

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