TY - CONF A1 - Geburtig, Anja A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Wachtendorf, Volker ED - Reichert, T. T1 - UV-LEDs - a new tool to determine the spectral response N2 - To determine a polymer’s spectral response of photo degradation, two main methods have been established. The so-called “filter technique” uses polychromatic radiation, which is filtered by a set of various sharp cut-on filters. This procedure provides separated reading points of an activation spectrum of the investigated material. With the "spectrographic technique” a specimen is irradiated with pectrally dispersed radiation, locally quasi monochromatically, and the local property changes.are related to the radiant exposure at the respective wavelengths. A third method, the irradiation of specimens with quasi monochromatic radiation behind interference filters, is rarely used. These methods have advantages and disadvantages and therefore, there are limits for conclusions from these spectral data. Concerning the quasi monochromatic Irradiation of specimens the development of new UV radiation sources looks promising. With the rapid development of inexpensive UV Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), new : sources of nearly monochromatic radiation in the UV ränge are available, even down to about 250 nm. To determine the spectral response, the use of such UV-LEDs in TO-18 ) and TO-39 metal cases combines the advantages of low cost and energy efficiency, stable spectral irradiance, temperature.and humidity control, larger specimen areas, and an easy and stable analysis. Combinations of different UV LEDs are also discussed as replacement for xenon arc ' radiation sources, see patent application EP01528388A1. T2 - 5th European weathering symposium - Natural and artificial ageing of polymers CY - Lisbon, Portugal DA - 21.09.2011 KW - UV resistance KW - Weathering KW - Spectral sensitivity KW - Action spectrum KW - UV-LEDs PY - 2011 SN - 978-3-9813136-2-8 N1 - Serientitel: CEEES Publication – Series title: CEEES Publication IS - 15 SP - 77 EP - 86 PB - GUS (Gesellschaft für Umweltsimulation) CY - Pfinztal AN - OPUS4-24396 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - von der Ehe, Kerstin A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Neutron radiation shielding material polyethylene: consequences of gamma irradiation N2 - High and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylenes are high performance materials, which are predestined for a wide range of applications due to characteristics like high density, low weight, good dimensional stability, high chemical resistance, and high hydrogen content. These polymers are used in two demanding areas: as implant material in medical technology (only ultra-high molecular weight polyethylenes) and as a component for neutron shielding purposes in casks for storage and transport of radioactive waste. In the medical field (joint replacements) as well as during neutron radiation shielding application, high and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylenes are exposed to gamma irradiation: in the first case requested as sterilization process and for surface-crosslinking and in the second case existing as a side effect of inserting the radioactive material in the cask. Given that polyethylene as shielding material has to withstand any type of degradation affecting safety relevant aspects to be applicable for long-term radiation shielding purposes for instance over a period of 40 years, the durability of the material is of special interest. High molecular weight polyethylene (HMW-PE; LUPOLEN 5261Z; Lyondell Basell) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE; GUR 4120; Ticona) were subjected to gamma radiation and afterwards thermally treated. The gamma doses used are in the range of 50 to 600 kGy and irradiation takes place at RT using a Co-60 source. The planned thermal treatment will take place at a temperature of 125 °C for periods of minimum 30 days and maximum of five years. With the applied conventional analytical techniques it is possible to detect structural changes of both types of polyethylene induced by gamma irradiation and certainly of thermal treatment. Through gamma irradiation melting temperature, crystallinity, and density, respectively increased. Furthermore both polyethylenes get oxidized and cross-linked. With regard to the special application as neutron radiation shielding material in casks for storage and transport of radioactive materials, the impact of irradiation lead to changes of material properties. A consolidated view indicates that the detected changes of the irradiated (U)HMW-PE are not safety relevant for long-term neutron radiation shielding purposes over a period of 40 years in Germany. T2 - WM2015 Conference CY - Phoenix, Arizona, USA DA - 15.03.2015 KW - Gamma radiation KW - Polyehtylene KW - HMW KW - DSC KW - IR KW - Crosslinking PY - 2015 SN - 978-0-9828171-4-8 SP - 15062, 1 EP - 10 AN - OPUS4-33254 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Neutron Radiation Shielding Material Polyethylene - Consequences of Gamma Irradiation T2 - Waste Management Symposia CY - Phoenix, AZ, USA DA - 2015-03-15 PY - 2015 AN - OPUS4-32922 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Experiences and perspectives for the design evaluation of Konrad containers N2 - The former iron ore mine Konrad near Salzgitter is the approved final repository for radioactive waste with negligible heat production in Germany and should go into operation in the 2030s. The waste comes from operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants, as well as from medicine, research and industry using radiation sources or radioactive materials. These types of waste are comparable to international low- and certain types of intermediate-level waste. The waste includes a large variety of products, materials and properties. The containers for such waste have the primary purpose of enabling handling and storing of the waste by safely enclosing the radioactive inventory and shielding of radiation. Due to the large variety of waste forms to be disposed of in the Konrad repository, different container types are specified to account for the different requirements related to each waste type. Each container design for waste disposal in Konrad has to be approved by BGE on the basis of the “final disposal conditions” (Endlagerungsbedingungen) and the respective “product control” (Produktkontrolle). For demonstrating the container’s compliance with the regulatory framework, the waste producers or container manufacturers have to apply for design approval on the basis of a comprehensive safety assessment including all relevant reports about analytical, numerical and experimental safety demonstrations and quality assurance measures for container manufacturing and operation. Usually, BGE commissions independent experts like BAM to evaluate these documents and the design testing (e.g. drop or fire tests). While the basic assessment principle is to verify the container design and quality to be in line with all regulatory requirements, there are often challenges associated with the container’s safety evaluation. As containers of different types have already been produced in large numbers and partially loaded with waste before the regulatory framework became effective (so-called “old” containers), they are considered in the regulations as well and safety assessments have to be provided in an equivalent way. As the requirements for the documentation of manufacturing quality were not yet known at the time these containers were manufactured, this is often challenging in practice. On the other hand, containers requiring the highest safety level (ABK II, sf) due to their nuclear content sometimes cause significant challenges and very long approval processes concerning safety demonstrations for severe accidental conditions like a 5 m drop without impact limiter onto a nearly unyielding target or a one hour 800 °C fire scenario. Furthermore, as the regulatory framework has not been updated for several decades, some requirements and the respective safety assessment methods have to be interpreted under consideration of the current state of knowledge in science and technology. T2 - safeND conference 2025 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 17.09.2025 KW - Radioactive waste KW - Final disposal KW - Waste container KW - Design evaluation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64989 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Influence of Ageing on Sealability of HNBR, EPDM and FKM O-rings N2 - At BAM, which is a federal institute for materials research and testing in Germany, it is one of our tasks to evaluate the safety of casks designed for transport and/or storage of radioactive material. This includes assessment of elastomeric seals applied in the containers. Besides examining the low-temperature behaviour and irradiation effects of elastomeric seals, it is our goal to evaluate the service lifetime of the seals with regard to the requirements for long-term safety (40 years and more) of the containers. Therefore, we started an accelerated ageing programme with selected rubbers often used in seals (HNBR, EPDM and FKM) which are aged at four different temperatures (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C) up to 1.5 years. In order to assess sealability, O-rings are aged in compression by 25 % (corresponding to the compression during service) between plates as well as in flanges that allow leakage rate measurements. For comparison, uncompressed O-rings are aged as well. Further methods characterising seal performance are compression stress relaxation (CSR) reflecting the loss of sealing force of a compressed seal over time, and compression set (CS) which represents the recovery behaviour of a seal after release from compression. In order to understand the underlying ageing mechanisms in each material, the change in material properties is examined using thermal and mechanical analysis. The experimental results indicate that while material properties, CSR and CS show considerable degradation effects, the leakage rate stays constant or even decreases until shrinkage and the loss of resilience of the aged seal leads to the formation of a leakage path. This indicates that static leakage rate, which is the most relevant criterion for seal performance, has only limited sensitivity for the degradation of the seal material. T2 - International Sealing Conference CY - Stuttgart, Germany DA - 12.10.2016 KW - Rubber KW - Degradation KW - Lifetime prediction PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-38013 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Raedel, Martina A1 - Feldmann, Ines A1 - Bücker, Michael A1 - Kömmling, Anja ED - Roemich, Hannelore ED - Fair, Lauren T1 - Testing bulked adhesives for the Restoration of Stained-Glass Windows N2 - In this study, bulked adhesives were examined regarding changes in properties for their use in the restoration of stained-glass windows. Two epoxy adhesives commonly used in the restoration of flat glass, Araldite® 2020 and Hxtal NYL-1™, were investigated. The adhesives were mixed with various silica-based micro- and nano-particles as fillers. Different tests were carried out on the adhesives with and without fillers in order to characterise their chemical and mechanical properties. The tests included colorimetry, dynamic-mechanical methods of analysis and tests on bending strength. No property changes could be ascertained in the bulked adhesives that would be negative for the restoration of delicate flat glass. T2 - Recent advances in glass and ceramics - ICOM-CC Glass and Ceramics Working Group Interim Meeting CY - Breslau / Wroclaw, Poland DA - 25.05.2016 KW - bulked epoxy adhesives KW - micro-fillers KW - nano-fillers PY - 2016 SN - 978-83-64419-80-5 SP - 155 EP - 163 AN - OPUS4-36457 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Revealing effects of chain scission during ageing of EPDM rubber using relaxation and recovery experiment N2 - Both chain scission and crosslinking reactions occur during ageing of EPDM rubber. However, with many conventional polymer analysis methods such as hardness and DMA, it is hardly possible to obtain information about the contribution of each reaction type to the measured data. For example, hardness and Tg both increase during ageing of EPDM, indicating crosslinking during ageing, but it is not clear whether this is partly counterbalanced by chain scission reactions which would lower hardness and Tg. An indication that chain scission reactions probably counteract the hardness or Tg increase by crosslinking is given by Compression Set (CS) measurements. CS exhibits a higher change than hardness or Tg, as CS increases additively through both chain scission and crosslinking reactions. In order to elucidate the share of chain scission reactions in the total degradation, a method testing relaxation and recovery behaviour using DMA equipment was applied. The method revealed the strong influence of chain scissions, leading to more pronounced relaxation and higher residual strain after compression. KW - Compression set KW - DMA KW - Nnetwork KW - Crosslinking PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2016.10.026 SN - 0142-9418 SN - 1873-2348 IS - 56 SP - 261 EP - 268 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-38012 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Lifetime Prediction of Elastomeric O-Ring Seals N2 - BAM is the federal institute for materials research and testing in Germany. One of our tasks is to evaluate the safety of casks designed for transport and/or storage of radioactive waste. As elastomeric seals are used in the containers as safety-relevant parts, it is our goal to be able to evaluate the service lifetime of the seals with regard to the requirements for long-term safety (40 years and more) of the containers. For this reason, an accelerated ageing programme with selected rubbers often used for seals (HNBR, EPDM and FKM) was started. Ageing was performed at four different temperatures (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C) for up to 2 years. For assessing properties related to the sealability, O-rings were aged in compression by 25 % (corresponding to the compression during service) between plates. For comparison, uncompressed O-rings were aged as well. The aged materials were characterized with conventional polymer analysis methods such as hardness and tensile tests, but also with more seal-specific methods such as compression stress relaxation (CSR, reflecting the loss of sealing force of a compressed seal over time), and compression set (CS, representing the recovery behaviour of a seal after release from compression). CS is chosen as the property for lifetime prediction as it is both sensitive to degradation and related to the seal performance. CS data is extrapolated to 60 °C, which yields lifetimes of approximately 5 years for HNBR and 64 years for EPDM for a criterion of 85 % CS respectively, and approx. 40 years for FKM for a criterion of 65 % CS (the highest value measured so far). T2 - Herbsttagung DKG Bezirksgruppe Süd-Südwest CY - Würzburg, Germany DA - 06.10.2016 KW - Rubber KW - Ageing KW - EPDM KW - HNBR KW - FKM PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-38010 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Lifetime Prediction of Elastomeric O-Ring Seals N2 - BAM is the federal institute for materials research and testing in Germany. One of our tasks is to evaluate the safety of casks designed for transport and/or storage of radioactive waste. As elastomeric seals are used in the containers as safety-relevant parts, it is our goal to be able to evaluate the service lifetime of the seals with regard to the requirements for long-term safety (40 years and more) of the containers. For this reason, an accelerated ageing programme with selected rubbers often used for seals (HNBR, EPDM and FKM) was started. Ageing was performed at four different temperatures (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C) for up to 2 years. For assessing properties related to the sealability, O-rings were aged in compression by 25 % (corresponding to the compression during service) between plates. For comparison, uncompressed O-rings were aged as well. The aged materials were characterized with conventional polymer analysis methods such as hardness and tensile tests, but also with more seal-specific methods such as compression stress relaxation (CSR, reflecting the loss of sealing force of a compressed seal over time), and compression set (CS, representing the recovery behaviour of a seal after release from compression). CS is chosen as the property for lifetime prediction as it is both sensitive to degradation and related to the seal performance. CS data is extrapolated to 60 °C, which yields lifetimes of approximately 5 years for HNBR and 64 years for EPDM for a criterion of 85 % CS respectively, and approx. 40 years for FKM for a criterion of 65 % CS (the highest value measured so far). T2 - Vortrag bei der Uni der Bundeswehr CY - Munich, Germany DA - 06.10.2016 KW - Rubber KW - Ageing KW - EPDM KW - HNBR KW - FKM PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-38007 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Lifetime Prediction of Elastomeric O-Ring Seals N2 - The ageing of polymers, including elastomers, is an undesirable but inevitable process leading to a limited lifetime of rubber products such as seals. In order to investigate the degradation of material properties of elastomers used as seals, an ageing programme was started with hydrogenated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR), ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) and fluorocarbon rubber (FKM) [1-3]. Sheets of 2 mm thickness were aged at four different temperatures (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C) for time periods of 1 day up to 1 year. The aged samples were examined using standard analytical methods such as hardness, dynamic-mechanical analysis (DMA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), mass loss, density and tensile tests. Additionally, DMA equipment was used to investigate relaxation and recovery behaviour which is more sensitive to degradation effects and can help to correctly interpret data from hardness and DMA measurements. The results show e.g. an increase in hardness and glass transition temperature for HNBR and, less pronounced, for EPDM. This confirms ageing mechanisms described in the literature, e.g. dominant crosslinking reactions in HNBR and both chain scissions and crosslinking for EPDM. FKM, which is very heat resistant, exhibits only minor degradation. Where possible, shift factors for time-temperature data sets were determined. The values obtained from different methods are compared and discussed. T2 - Modification, Degradation and Stabilization of Polymer (MoDeSt) Conference CY - Cracow, Poland DA - 04.09.2016 KW - Rubber KW - Ageing KW - EPDM KW - HNBR KW - FKM PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-38006 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Discoloration effects of high-dose γ-irradiation and long-term thermal ageing of (U)HMW-PE N2 - Two polyethylene types with ultra high (UHMWPE) and high molecular weight (HMWPE), which are used as neutron radiation shielding materials in storage casks for radioactive waste, were subjected to gamma irradiation doses up to 600 kGy and subsequent thermal ageing at 125 °C for up to one year. One material was a medical grade UHMWPE and the other a HMWPE containing an antioxidant. Degradation effects in the materials were characterized using colorimetry, UV-Vis spectroscopy, MIR and FTIR measurements, DSC and, in the case of HMWPE, insoluble content determination. Both materials exhibited a yellowing upon irradiation. The discoloration of UHMWPE disappeared again after thermal ageing, which is why it was attributed to annealable color centers in the form of free radicals entrapped in the crystalline regions of the polymer that recombine during thermal ageing. Furthermore, oxidation species were observed with MIR and FTIR spectroscopy. For HMWPE, the yellowing occurred during both irradiation and thermal ageing and was correlated to antioxidant decomposition. Additionally, black spots were observed after thermal ageing of HMWPE that were attributed to reaction products of antioxidant derivatives and catalyst residues. While only little evidence of oxidation species was found in the light material parts, oxidation is expected to concentrate in the black spots as the catalyst residue promotes hydroperoxide decomposition and thus radical formation that initiate polymer oxidation T2 - Ionizing Radiation and Polymers Conference CY - Giens, France DA - 25.09.2016 KW - Polyethylene KW - Gamma-irradiation KW - Yellowing KW - Degradation PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-38001 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Grelle, Tobias A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Völzke, Holger ED - Stuke, M. T1 - Long-term evaluation of sealing systems for radioactive waste packages N2 - The investigation of the long-term performance of sealing systems employed in containers for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is one research focus area for division 3.4 “Safety of Storage Containers” at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM). Our investigations comprise investigations on metallic and elastomeric seals and covers experimental investigations to get a database on the component/material behaviour, work on analytical descriptions and numerical analysis. Our aim is to understand the long-term behaviour of the sealing systems for evaluation of their performance during possible extended interim storage and subsequent transportation. T2 - 3rd Workshop on Safety of Extended Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel CY - Garching, Germany DA - 05.06.2019 KW - Seal performance KW - Rubber seal KW - Metallic seal KW - Ageing PY - 2019 SP - 57 EP - 62 AN - OPUS4-48225 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Wolff, Dietmar ED - Grellmann, W. ED - Langer, B. T1 - Investigations of elastomeric seals – Low temperature performance and aging behavior N2 - Due to their simple and reliable application, elastomers are used for many tasks. Many fields of application like transport, aviation and process technology, entail low temperatures where proper functionality of the employed seals has to be ensured. Therefore, understanding the low temperature behavior of elastomeric seals is important for safe seal operation to restrict the temperature application range. For all areas of application, the question of seal lifetime is also important for replacement or maintenance intervals. The lifetime is especially important in applications that allow no seal replacement. Since the seal can determine the lifetime of storage in such cases, reliable lifetime estimation is necessary for these applications, and requires an extensive knowledge of the specific aging behavior. KW - Seal KW - Rubber KW - Ageing KW - Replacement PY - 2017 SN - 978-3-319-41877-3 SN - 978-3-319-41879-7 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41879-7_30 SN - 0933-033X SN - 2196-2812 VL - 247 SP - 431 EP - 443 PB - Springer Verlag AN - OPUS4-41167 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Comparison of different test methods for lifetime prediction of O-ring seals N2 - Elastomeric O-ring seals are used in a wide range of applications due to their excellent elasticity. However, like all polymers, elastomers degrade under the influence of e.g. time, temperature, oxygen, radiation and mechanical stress. Especially in applications where a replacement of seals after a certain time is hard or almost impossible, it is important to know the seal lifetime. Therefore, an extensive ageing programme with elastomers made of EPDM, HNBR and other materials was started with the aim of determining suitable methods for accelerated ageing and lifetime prediction. In order to determine the lifetime of polymeric parts, the time-temperature superposition principle is commonly used to shift property changes obtained by accelerated ageing at higher temperatures to lower temperatures. If the shift factors yield a straight line in an Arrhenius diagram, a corresponding activation energy can be determined. However, we have found that the shift factors and thus the predicted lifetime depends on the test method that yielded the shifted data. For example, the shift factor between 125 °C and 150 °C ageing temperature was roughly the same (5/5/4.5 respectively) for hardness, density and maximum of loss factor tan  measured on HNBR, but different for elongation at break (8) and compression set (2.2, excluding DLO-affected data). A possible explanation might be that while the different oxidation reactions proceed with a fixed activation energy, they have differing impact on the measured properties. For example, hardness is lowered by chain scission reactions, and increases by crosslinking reactions during ageing. As usually both chain scission and crosslinking reactions occur during ageing, the measured hardness increase reflects only the net effect of both reaction types. On the other hand, compression set is influenced additively by both reaction types: chain scission leads to an increase of the remaining deformation, as broken chains lose their recovery potential, and crosslinking reactions during ageing fix the compressed geometry, which also leads to less recovery. Thus, compression set reflects the total number of changes in the network and shows degradation effects much faster, which results in lower shift factors and lower activation energy. This phenomenon was observed for EPDM as well. In order to verify our hypotheses and to gain further insights, temperature-dependent oxygen consumption measurements are currently being performed and results will be presented at the conference. The shift factors and activation energy determined by oxygen consumption measurements are expected to be close to the values for compression set. T2 - Polymer Degradation Discussion Group Conference CY - Malta DA - 01.09.2019 KW - Compression set KW - Time-temperature superposition KW - Arrhenius KW - HNBR KW - EPDM KW - FKM KW - Activation energy PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48907 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Analysis of O-ring seal failure in the context of radioactive waste containers N2 - At BAM, which is a federal institute for materials research and testing in Germany, it is one of our tasks to evaluate the safety of casks designed for transport and/or storage of radioactive material. This includes assessment of elastomeric seals applied in the casks. Besides examining the low-temperature behaviour and irradiation effects of elastomeric seals, it is our goal to estimate the service lifetime of the seals with regard to the requirements for long-term safety (40 years and more) of the containers. Therefore, we started an accelerated ageing programme with selected rubbers often used for seals (HNBR, EPDM and FKM) which are aged at four different temperatures (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C) up to five years. In order to assess sealability, O-rings were aged in compression by 25 % (corresponding to the compression during service) between plates as well as in flanges that allow leakage rate measurements. For comparison, uncompressed O-rings were aged as well. Further methods characterising seal performance are compression stress relaxation (CSR) reflecting the loss of sealing force of a compressed seal over time, and compression set (CS) which represents the recovery behaviour of a seal after release from compression. Additionally, material properties such as hardness, elastic modulus, glass transition temperature and viscoelastic loss factor as well as relaxation and recovery behaviour are examined in order to understand the underlying ageing mechanisms in each material. For obtaining results closely related to practical conditions, O-rings with a full-scale cord diameter of 10 mm were aged. However, this set-up can lead to heterogeneous aging caused by diffusion-limited oxidation (DLO) effects, resulting in distorted bulk properties such as compression stress relaxation and compression set. However, if DLO-affected data is excluded, extrapolations of CS data are possible using time-temperature shifts and Arrhenius graphs. For selecting an appropriate end-of-lifetime criterion, leakage rate measurements were performed, since leakage rate is the only characteristic directly correlated to the performance of the sealing system. A significant increase in leakage rate was considered as the end of the lifetime. However, the O-rings remained leak tight under static conditions and even exhibited an improved, i.e. decreased leakage rate while other properties already indicated strong deterioration. These tests were extended by seal tests with fast partial decompression. Overall an update will be given on the current investigations and results and the planned activities. T2 - Kautschuk Herbst Kolloquium 2022 CY - Online meeting DA - 08.11.2022 KW - Seal KW - Ageing KW - Compression set PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56397 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Alterung von Elastomerdichtungen für Lagerbehälter N2 - Unsere Aufgabe im Fachbereich 3.4 der Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und prüfung (BAM) ist die sicherheitstechnische Begutachtung von Transport- und Lagerbehältern für radioaktiven Abfall, die für langfristige Zwischenlagerung ausgelegt sind. Ein Arbeitsschwerpunkt ist die Bewertung der Lebensdauer von Metall- und Elastomerdichtungen in den Behältern im Hinblick auf die Anforderungen für langfristige Behältersicherheit (min. 40 Jahre in Deutschland). Um die Eigenschaftsänderungen der Elastomerdichtungen während einer beschleunigten Alterung über lange Zeiträume (bis zu fünf Jahre) untersuchen zu können, wurde ein Alterungsprogramm an ausgewählten Elastomeren (HNBR, EPDM, FKM) begonnen. Im Gegensatz zu Normalterungsverfahren altern wir keine Normteile, sondern O-Ringe im unverpressten sowie verpressten Zustand. Diese Vorgehensweise ermöglicht die Bewertung des Einflusses der Verpressung auf die Alterung sowie die Untersuchung des Bauteilversagens mittels Leckageratenmessungen unter anwendungsnahen Bedingungen. Weitere Charakterisierungsmethoden sind Härtemessung, dynamisch-mechanische Analyse (DMA), Thermogravimetrie (TGA), Druckspannungsrelaxation, Druckverformungsrest (DVR), Dichtebestimmung und Zugversuch. Das Ziel ist, die Leckagerate mit anderen Eigenschaften bzw. Methoden zu korrelieren, um so ein aussagekräftiges und leichter zu bestimmendes Lebensdauerkriterium für elastomere O-Ringe abzuleiten. Während der Alterung können in Abhängigkeit von Material sowie Alterungsdauer und –temperatur Inhomogenitäten aufgrund von diffusionsbegrenzter Oxidation auftreten, durch die sich unterschiedliche Eigenschaften an der Oberfläche und im Volumen der Dichtung ergeben, was zu falschen Lebensdauerabschätzungen führen kann. Mittels Mikrohärtemessung über den Querschnitt werden diese Effekte charakterisiert und bei der Extrapolation mittels Zeit-Temperatur-Verschiebung und Arrheniusgraph berücksichtigt. Bisher liegen Daten von bis zu einem Jahr bei vier verschiedenen Temperaturen (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C und 150 °C) gealterten Proben vor. Nach 100 Tagen bei 150 °C weisen HNBR und EPDM schon einen DVR von über 80 % auf, aber noch keinen signifikanten Anstieg der Leckagerate. Diese sinkt zunächst während der Alterung, da die Permeabilität aufgrund von Vernetzungsreaktionen sinkt. Bei HNBR ist dies aufgrund der dominanteren Vernetzungsreaktionen während der Alterung noch stärker ausgeprägt als bei EPDM. T2 - Technomer 2015 - 24. Fachtagung über Verarbeitung und Anwendung von Polymeren CY - Chemnitz, Germany DA - 12.11.2015 KW - Aging KW - Elastomer KW - Seal KW - Leakage KW - Compression PY - 2015 SN - 978-3-939382-12-6 SP - 43 CY - Chemnitz AN - OPUS4-35050 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kömmling, Anja T1 - Alterung von Dichtungen für Behälter mit radioaktivem Abfall T2 - Deutsche Kautschuk-Gesellschaft - Tagung Bezirksgruppe Ost CY - Berlin, Deutschland DA - 2015-05-27 PY - 2015 AN - OPUS4-33397 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Weber, Mike A1 - Zaghdoudi, Maha A1 - Brandt, Guido A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Coefficients of Friction in Dependence on Aging State of Elastomers – Experimental Identification and Numerical Simulation of the Experiment N2 - Elastomer seals are mounted as barrier seals in lid systems of containers designed for transport and disposal of negligible heat generating radioactive waste and as auxiliary seals in spent fuel storage and transportation casks (dual purpose casks (DPC)). When the behavior of mounted seals under normal and hypothetical accident conditions of disposal and transport is to be simulated, a comprehensive knowledge of their complex mechanical properties at every state of aging is necessary. In previous works, BAM’s efforts in experimental investigations on specimen artificially aged at different temperatures and times and the implementation of the found results in finite element material models were presented. Additionally, our approaches to reproduce the aging process itself and to extrapolate the results of artificially accelerated aging to longer times were presented. Numerical simulations have shown that the behavior of the seal during mounting and one-sided pressurizing and the resulting performance values such as leakage rate strongly depend on the coefficient of friction (COF) between flange and seal. The friction coefficient, in turn, depends on the aging state of the elastomer material as several publications suggest (see below). Dynamic COF between an exemplary ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) material and a stainless steel ball were determined by using a self-designed linear oscillation tribometer. Unaged and artificially aged EPDM specimen stored for 30 days and 100 days at a temperature of 150 °C were tested. A stainless steel ball (d=10 mm) is brought in contact with the specimen’s surface und loaded by normal forces of 2.5 N, 5 N, 10 N and 20 N. During a reciprocating movement of the EPDM sheet, the horizontal force/friction force is continuously measured, and the COF can be derived. It is well known that friction is a complex phenomenon especially in soft materials. It cannot be excluded that the measured friction force is influenced by additional force components, resulting from the ball’s grooving through the elastomer’s surface. This force depends on the penetration depth of the ball and on the resistance of the elastomer in its different states of aging. The latter results from microstructural changes i.e., chain scission and additional crosslinking that occur during aging which in turn influence the softening or hardening of the material. A finite element (FE) ABAQUS® model was developed to reproduce the measurement process. It should help to better understand the physical mechanisms and to quantify the percentage of measured forces resulting from real friction on the one hand and forces resulting from unintended side effects that could falsify the result on the other hand. The behavior of the elastomer in its different states of aging is reproduced by a FE material model already presented in previous works of BAM. T2 - ASME 2022 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP2022) CY - Las Vegas, NV, USA DA - 17.02.2022 KW - Numerical Simulation KW - Radioactive Waste KW - Elastomers KW - Aging KW - Seal Behavior KW - Leakage Rate KW - Coefficient of Friction KW - Experiment PY - 2022 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) CY - New York, NY, USA AN - OPUS4-57093 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Weber, Mike A1 - Zencker, Uwe A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Schulze, Dietmar T1 - Numerical simulation of the behaviour of elastomer seals under consideration of time dependent effects N2 - Due to delays in the site-selection procedure to establish a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and high level waste and in construction of the already licensed Konrad-repository for low and intermediate level waste without heat generation, extended periods of interim storage become more relevant in Germany. BAM is involved in most of the cask licensing procedures and especially responsible for the evaluation of cask-related long-term safety issues. The long-term performance of elastomer seals for lid Systems of transport and storage casks whether used as auxiliary seals in spent fuel caslcs or as primary seals for low and intermediate level waste packages is an important issue in this context (Jaunich, 2013; Jaunich, 2014; Kömmling, 2015). The polymeric structure of these seals causes a complex mechanical behaviour with time-dependent elasticity reduction and loss of elastic recovery. The paper presents first results of a comprehensive test Programme consisting of several static and dynamic mechanical short- and long-term tests which have been carried out at BAM on specimens made of representative types of elastomers, fluorocarbon rubber (FKM) and ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM). The investigation of the test results used to identify material models and their Parameters as well as the development of two finite element models for the numerical Simulation of tension and compression tests using the finite element code ABAQUS® are described. The calculation results are presented in comparison to the test results. The influence of important material and test parameters was investigated and discussed in sensitivity analyses. T2 - RAMTRANSPORT 2015 - International conference on the radioactive materials transport and storage CY - Oxford, UK DA - 19.05.2015 KW - Numerical analysis KW - Extended interim storage KW - Elastomer seals PY - 2015 SP - Session 4, Paper 28, 1 EP - 9 AN - OPUS4-33832 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Ageing of HNBR, EPDM and FKM O-rings N2 - HNBR, EPDM and FKM O-rings were aged uncompressed and compressed at 75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C for up to 1 year. HNBR exhibited the strongest ageing effects with high increases of hardness and glass transition temperature. Furthermore, heterogeneous ageing caused by diffusion-limited oxidation effects had a significant influence for HNBR at ageing temperatures of 125 °C and 150 °C. EPDM showed similar property changes as HNBR, but less pronounced. FKM displayed only minor ageing effects. O-rings aged in compression exhibited considerable compression set (CS). CS data was used for a time-temperature shift and resulting master curve construction. Leakage rate measurements showed that O-rings can remain leak tight under static conditions even if material properties have already deteriorated strongly. N2 - HNBR-, EPDM- und FKM-O-Ringe wurden unverpresst und verpresst für bis zu 1 Jahr bei 75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C und 150 °C gealtert. HNBR wies mit hohen Anstiegen von Härte und Glasübergangstemperatur die stärksten Alterungseffekte auf. Weiterhin hatte heterogene Alterung aufgrund von diffusionsbegrenzten Oxidationseffekten einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf HNBR bei Alterungstemperaturen von 125 °C und 150 °C. EPDM zeigte ähnliche Eigenschaftsänderungen wie HNBR, allerdings schwächer ausgeprägt. FKM wies nur geringfügige Alterungseffekte auf. O-Ringe, die verpresst gealtert wurden, hatten eine starke bleibende Verformung (DVR). Die gemessenen DVRWerte wurden für eine Zeit-Temperatur-Verschiebung und die Konstruktion einer Masterkurve genutzt. Leckageratenmessungen zeigten, dass O-Ringe unter statischen Bedingungen dicht bleiben können, auch wenn die Materialeigenschaften schon stark degradiert sind. KW - Aging KW - Degradation KW - Leakage KW - Compression KW - Seal PY - 2016 SN - 0022-9520 SN - 0948-3276 VL - 69 IS - 4 SP - 36 EP - 42 PB - Hüthig CY - Heidelberg, Germany AN - OPUS4-36336 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Zaghdoudi, Maha A1 - Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani, Media A1 - Jaunich, Matthias T1 - Data-driven nanomechanical study of filled fluoroelastomer aged in air and hydrogen atmosphere N2 - Fluoroelastomer (FKM) composites are typically used as sealing materials in challenging non-ambient environments. Depending on the environment, two main aging mechanisms, chemical aging, and physical aging, can be identified. Chemical aging, the degradation of the elastomer, is present for example in thermal-oxidative conditions and can be directly observed as it affects the bulk. Physical aging, relaxation and rearrangement of the elastomers segmental conformation is commonly observed at elevated temperatures and effects predominantly the elastomer interphase. As a highly localized nanoscopic effect it is usually observed indirectly by phenomological approaches and not systematically understood. In this study, as a typical example for chemical aging, filled FKM was aged in air (150°C, 100 days). Physical aging of FKM was realized by exposure to chemically inert H2 (150°C, 50 bar, 100 days), since temperature and gas-induced swelling is known to promote physical aging. The effects of both conditions are directly compared with the initial unaged material. We use atomic force microscopy (AFM) force spectroscopy as a method to resolve nanoscopic heterogeneous FKM. With this method the effect of aging on the spatially distinguishable material phases was directly observed. In thermal oxidative aged FKM the matrix shows a decrease in van der Waals interactions and stiffness, indicating dehydrofluorination and chain scission. In H2 aged FKM, the development of an immobilized amorphous interphase (IAP) was observed, indicating physical aging. By additionally evaluating a larger data set with supervised machine learning, these observations were validated for a larger, statistically representative sample area, allowing conclusions to be drawn about the macroscopic behaviour of the material. KW - Fluoroelastomer KW - Atomic force microscopy KW - Data-driven KW - Hydrogen KW - Ageing mechanism KW - Physical aging KW - Polymer interphase PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-648154 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2025.111715 SN - 0141-3910 VL - 242 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-64815 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - von der Ehe, Kerstin A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Jaunich, Matthias T1 - Effect of high-dose gamma irradiation on (U)HMWPE neutron shielding materials N2 - High and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylenes were gamma-irradiated with doses up to 600 kGy. The changes in the material properties were analysed using DSC, DMA, IR spectroscopy, as well as measurements of density and insoluble content. The irradiation led to an increase of the degree of crystallinity because of chain scissions during irradiation, leading to shorter and thus more mobile chains. Both the plateau value of the shear modulus G′ and the insoluble content increased with Irradiation dose, indicating the formation of additional crosslinks. Furthermore, IR spectroscopy revealed irradiation induced oxidation and the formation of double bonds, indicating that some of the hydrogen atoms responsible for the neutron shielding capability have been released. KW - Ultra high molecular weight KW - Polyethylene KW - Gamma irradiation KW - Crosslinking KW - Oxidation PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2017.02.014 SN - 0969-806X VL - 142 SP - 29 EP - 33 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-42941 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -