Nitrile Rubber Products

Nitrile Rubber - NBR

Nitrile rubbers (NBR) are copolymers of butadiene and acrylonitrile. With Nitrile rubbers, the oil resistance increases as the acrylonitrile content but at the expense of resilience. NBR has good oil and liquid fuel resistant and good gas barrier properties.

At temperatures up to 100C, or with special compounding up to 120C, nitrile rubber provides an economic material having a high resistance to aliphatic hydrocarbon oils and fuels. Different grades are available - the higher the acrylonitrile (ACN) content, the higher the oil resistance but the poorer is the low temperature flexibility. It has high resilience and high wear resistance but only moderate strength. It has limited weathering resistance, and poor aromatic oil resistance. It can generally be used down to about -30C, but special grades can operate at lower temperatures.

General uses: O-rings, oil seals, water-proof gaskets, rubber rollers, industrial products.

Hydrogenated Nitrile Rubber - HNBR

The properties of hydrogenated nitrile rubber depend on the acrylonitrile (ACN) content, and on the degree of hydrogenation. They can be 'tailored' to particular applications, but have the general advantage over standard nitrile rubber of having higher temperature resistance and higher strength. They have good high temperature oil and chemical resistance and are resistant to amines. They are suitable for use in methanol and methanol/hydrocarbon mixtures if the correct ACN level is selected. They have good resistance to hot water and steam. They can have excellent mechanical properties including strength, elongation, and tear. Also, abrasion resistance, compression set, and extrusion resistance. For the best properties peroxide curing is used, unless low hysteresis is required. They are reported to be satisfactory up to temperatures around 180C in oil. Fully saturated grades have excellent ozone resistance. They have poor resistance to some oxygenated solvents and aromatic hydrocarbons.