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In consideration of the influence of the curing reaction on the material properties of elastomers, it is very important to control the vulcanization process properly.
As shown previously [1], the effects of the vulcanization reaction of an elastomer can be monitored by use of ultrasonic sound waves. This technique has to a certain degree a high similarity to the standard curemeter test according to ISO 6502 but can be applied also inside a production tool.
So far, the method was only applied to the vulcanization of one compound at a given temperature and sample thickness. This is now complemented with measurements on another compound system at different temperatures and sample thicknesses.
The expected effects of temperature and thickness on the curing behaviour were found by use of the ultrasound online control.
Monitoring the vulcanization of elastomers: Comparison of curemeter and ultrasonic online control
(2009)
The vulcanization of elastomeric materials has a high impact on the properties of the final product. Therefore, it is important to monitor and control this crosslinking process. A common technique to attain the necessary curing time is the use of a curemeter in accordance with ISO 6502 in order to determine the time for full cure of a sample with a standardized geometry. Based on this result and a lot of practical experience, the required curing time for a given product geometry is estimated. Within the scope of this work, a new analysis technique will be compared with the standard procedure. The ultrasonic online control employs ultrasound waves to measure the changes in material properties caused by vulcanization. For this study, a natural rubber compound with a conventional curing system was investigated by both techniques. It was found that the results of the ultrasonic technique show good agreement with the results of the curemeter.
A new method for the evaluation of the low temperature properties of rubber materials is presented. The method emulates the standardized compression set measurement, which is frequently used for sealing materials, but can be performed within a considerably shorter time. The results are compared with the standard test and found to be qualitatively the same. Slight differences are discussed on the basis of the differences in the measurement procedures. Further data evaluation is done by fitting functions to describe the material behaviour.
At BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in Germany, it is our responsibility to audit the safety of casks designed for transport and/or storage of radioactive material. With regard to the requirements on long-term safety of the containers, it is necessary to evaluate the service lifetime of the elastomeric seals used in the containers. With ageing, the elastomers will gradually lose their elasticity and their ability for recovery, which might result in a leakage above the allowed level or in a release of radioactivity during an incident. It is important to know the rate of degradation and which property can be used as an practical and easily measurable end-of-lifetime criterion. For this reason, we devised ageing experiments on different kinds of elastomers, namely FKM, EPDM and HNBR. The former two are actually used in containers for radioactive wastes – either as auxiliary seal in casks containing high activity waste, or as main seal in casks for medium or low activity waste. The latter is an often used seal material that is tested for comparative reasons. In our ageing program, these three materials are aged at four different temperatures (75 °C, 100 °C, 125 °C and 150 °C) in order to extrapolate the data to service temperature using a suitable model. They are examined at logarithmic time intervals of several days up to 5 years. The samples are aged in their undeformed O-ring state as well as compressed between flanges with a deformation corresponding to the actual compression during service. Thus we can compare the ageing between relaxed and stressed sample. Additionally, we are ageing samples in flanges that allow leakage rate measurements. Other measurements include monitoring of the recovery force of the seal and the compression set. Furthermore, the samples are examined by thermal and dynamic-mechanical analysis for detecting changes in the glass transition temperature due to crosslinking or chain scission in the material. Besides, hardness is measured as a practical macroscopic indicator. Until now, we have analyzed samples aged up to 100 days. At the highest ageing temperature of 150 °C, the compressed EPDM has already reached a compression set of 95 %, while HNBR and FKM have reached 80 % and 30 %, respectively. Furthermore, HNBR has reached a Shore D hardness of 85, which is an immense increase after the initial value of 80 Shore A. However, when looking at the cross-section of the sample, it was obvious that only a layer of about 1 mm thickness has become so hard, while the inner part remained rubbery. This shows that there has been intense crosslinking mostly near the surface of the HNBR which forms a kind of oxygen diffusion barrier, inhibiting the thermooxidation of the inner part of sample which can retain elastic properties. In EPDM, the oxygen permeability is much greater, which leads to a more homogeneous degradation across the whole sample and thus resulted in a higher compression set. The low compression set of FKM shows the outstanding high-temperature properties of this material.
Elastomeric seals are used in many containers, including casks for radioactive waste. However, like all polymers, elastomers are prone to aging, which leads to a loss of sealing force and the ability for recovery which can ultimately result in leakage. Therefore it is important to be able to define an end-of-lifetime criterion and to judge the lifetime of elastomeric seals. For this reason, we started an aging program on three kinds of rubbers (HNBR, EPDM, FKM), monitoring the change of properties at four different aging temperatures over extended periods up to five years. The measured data is used for lifetime prediction by applying a suitable model.
Elastomer seals are widely used as barrier seals in containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and for spent fuel transportation casks. In addition, they are also used for spent fuel storage and transportation casks (dual purpose casks (DPC)) as auxiliary seals to allow leakage rate measurements of metal barrier seals for demonstration of their proper assembling conditions. Depending on the area of use, the rubber materials have to demonstrate proper sealing performance with regard to mechanical, thermal, and environmental conditions as well as irradiation during the entire operation period. Concerning DPC, degradation effects should be limited in a way that, for example, effects from potentially released decomposition elements may not harm e.g. metal barrier seals. Leakage rate measurements should be possible also after long interim storage periods prior to subsequent transportation.
Because of the complex requirements resulting from the various applications of containers for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, BAM has initiated several test programmes for investigating the behaviour of elastomer seals. In this contribution the current status is described and first results are discussed.
Elastomers are widely used as main sealing materials for Containers for low and intermediate Ievel radioactive waste and as additional component to metal seals in spent fuel and high active waste Containers. According to appropriate guidelines and regulations safe enclosure of the radioactive Container contents has to be guaranteed for long storage periods as well as down to temperatures of -40 °C for transportation. Therefore the understanding of seal behaviour in general is of high importance and ageing of elastomeric seals has to be considered with regard to possible dynamic events taking possibly place during transport after storage.
The method for the determination of compression set values with a Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) setup at low temperatures, which was presented previously, allows a much faster and readily automated procedure than the standardized compression set test according to ISO 815-2. This method is applied to a series of different elastomeric materials that are commonly used for sealing applications. The results of the compression set test are compared with results from thermal analysis to allow an in depth comparison of the material behaviour at low temperatures.
Furthermore, a comparison between two EPDM materials is presented. These materials show very similar properties determined by thermo analytical methods such as Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) but differ clearly in their compression set behaviour. This comparison shows the importance and value of information of the compression set test in addition to thermal analysis to judge the behaviour of sealing materials and confirms the relevance of the new compression set test method for the investigation of low temperature properties of elastomers.
Elastomers are widely used as the main sealing materials for containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and as an additional component to metal seals in spent fuel and high active waste containers. The safe encapsulation of the radioactive container inventory has to be guaranteed according to regulation and appropriate guidelines for long term storage periods as well as for temperatures as low as -40°C during transport. Therefore, the understanding of failure mechanisms that lead to leakage at low temperatures is of high importance. It is known that the material properties of elastomers are strongly temperature dependent. At low temperatures, this is caused by the rubber-glass transition (abbreviated: glass transition). During continuous cooling, the material changes from a rubber-like entropy elastic to a stiff energy elastic behaviour, which allows nearly no strain or retraction. Hence, rubbers are normally used above their glass transition, but the minimum working temperature limit is not defined precisely; this can cause problems during the above noted applications. Therefore, the lower operation temperature limit of elastomer seals must be determined in dependence of the material properties. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) are combined with standardised measurements to determine the compression set according to ISO 815. To reduce the test time of the standard tests, a faster technique than normally used was developed. Additionally, the breakdown temperature of the sealing function of complete O ring seals was measured in a component test set-up to compare it with the results of the other tests. The experimental set-up is capable of measuring the leakage rate at low temperatures by the pressure rise method. A fluorocarbon rubber (FKM) was selected for this investigation as it is often used for radioactive waste containers. The materials (seals and test sheets) were purchased from a commercial seal producer.
Rubber is widely used as sealing material in various applications. In many fields the sealing function at low temperatures is necessary. Therefore the understanding of failure mechanisms is of high importance. Rubbers are normally used above their glass-rubber transition region but the minimum working temperature limit is not defined precisely. Therefore the lower operation temperature limit of rubber seals should be determined in dependence of the material properties. The results of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) are combined with the results of the standardized compression set according to ISO 815 respectively a modified test using the DMA equipment.