https://rubbers.io/ Engineering essays on elastomers: natural and synthetic polymer families, compression set and slow seal failure, the hardness–sealing force–wear trade-off, and ageing by ozone, ultraviolet light, heat and chemical attack. en https://rubbers.io/ageing-sets-the-service-life/ https://rubbers.io/ageing-sets-the-service-life/ Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Durability Ozone, ultraviolet light, heat and chemical attack change the polymer network itself. For most rubber parts the end of life is a chemistry problem, and accelerated testing can be both faster and wrong. https://rubbers.io/hardness-sealing-force-and-wear/ https://rubbers.io/hardness-sealing-force-and-wear/ Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Design trade-offs Hardness is a purchasing control that gets used as a design variable. What actually trades against sealing force and wear is modulus, conformity and hysteresis — and they cannot all be improved together. https://rubbers.io/compression-set-and-the-slow-failure-of-seals/ https://rubbers.io/compression-set-and-the-slow-failure-of-seals/ Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Sealing A seal holds because stored elastic energy presses it against two surfaces. That force decays continuously, so leakage begins as a threshold crossing rather than an event. https://rubbers.io/why-the-environment-picks-the-polymer/ https://rubbers.io/why-the-environment-picks-the-polymer/ Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Material selection Natural and synthetic elastomer families differ by backbone chemistry, and that chemistry — not strength — decides which fluids, temperatures and weather a part survives.