INTRODUCTION

 Elastomer is a big fancy word, and all it means is "rubber".

They can be stretched to many times their original length, and
can bounce back into their original shape without permanent
deformation.
 Elastomers are amorphous polymers.
 An amorphous polymer is a thermoplastic or an elastomer
depends on its glass transition temperature, or Tg. This is the
temperature above which a polymer becomes soft and below
which it becomes hard and glassy. If an amorphous polymer
has a Tg below room temperature, that polymer will be an
elastomer, because it is soft and rubbery at room temperature.
If an amorphous polymer has a Tg above room temperature, it
will be a thermoplastic, because it is hard and glassy at room
temperature.
STRUCTURE

 Elastomers,or rubbery materials, have a loose cross-linked

structure. This type of chain structure causes elastomers to
possess memory.
 Elastomers possess memory, that is, they return to their
original shape after a stress is applied.
 Cross-linking - A process in which bonds are formed
joining adjacent molecules. At low density, these bonds add
to the elasticity of the polymer and at higher densities,
eventually produce rigidity in the polymers.
Vulcanization is an example of cross-linking.
Vulcanization or vulcanisation refers to a specific curing process of
rubber involving high heat and the addition of sulfur or other
equivalent curatives. It is a chemical process in which polymer
molecules are linked to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges
composed of sulfur atoms or carbon.
A is a schematic drawing of an unstressed polymer. The
dots represent cross-links. B is the same polymer under
stress. When the stress is removed, it will return to the A
configuration.
Elastomeric Materials

No Stress

Stressed
In tension
Elastomeric materials
Elastomeric materials can be classified into one of
two broad families:
 Thermoset rubber
 Thermoplastic

Elastomer materials are

 Highly amorphous
 Highly random orientation
 High elongation
 THERMOSET
 A polymer-based liquid or powder that becomes solid when heated,
placed under pressure, treated with a chemical or via radiation. The
thermoplastic, prevents the material from being remelted.

PROCESSING
Manufacturing a thermoset rubber part usually involves three basic steps:

* Mixing the raw rubber, various fillers, oils and cure chemicals in an
internal mixer or on a mill to form the compound;

* shaping the compound into the finished part via molding or extrusion;
and

* curing or vulcanizing the finished part and allowing it to cool.

 Processors have used a wide variety of both natural and synthetic
thermoset rubber,polychloroprene in industrial, automotive and
commercial applications. Thermoset rubber can be used in both injection
molding and extrusion processes.

ADVANTAGES
Thermoset rubber offers several distinct advantages over its
elastomeric counterparts.
 Wide variety of applications- Thermoset rubber offers an increased
range of physical properties such as hardness, heat resistance and
compression set. 
 Because thermoset rubber is more widely used and accepted in
the industry, processors tend to have more experience with these
materials.
 no pretreatment, drying is needed prior to processing.

DISADVANTAGE
  Limited recycling potential
THERMOPLASTIC ELASTOMER
 A thermoplastic elastomer is a material which is both
a thermoplastic and an elastomer(i.e., rubbery).
 In order to qualify as a thermoplastic elastomer, a
material must have these three essential
characteristics:
I. The ability to be stretched to moderate elongations
and, upon the removal of stress, return to something
close to its original shape.
II. Processable as a melt at elevated temperature.
III. Absence of significant creep. 

Thermoplastic Elastomers provide

 Flexibility
 Slip resistance
 Shock absorption
 Soft texture
Benefits of TPEs versus thermoset rubber
 Lower part costs — thinner wall sections plus lower density
 Simplified processing — no mixing or vulcanization steps.
 Thermoplastic rubber can be recycled, yet still retain its original properties.
 Colorable- TPEs can be easily colored by most types of dyes
 more economical control of product quality is possible.

TPE applications
 Gaskets, seals, stoppers, housings, rollers, valves, bumpers, wheels, pads,
casters.
 covers, housings.
 Shoe soles/heels, wrist straps, cushions, airbag doors.
 Handles, grips, pushbuttons, knobs.
List of elastomers
 Natural Rubber(NR)
 Butyl rubber
 Synthetic Polyisoprene
 Polybutadiene
 Neoprene
Natural Rubber Latex Transportation & Packaging
Butyl Rubber are used in the, Butyl Tapes, comes
with varied specification and widely used in sealing
of tunnel, dam, retaining wall and cement floor.
Polyisoprene, or natural rubber are used in these
•Polybutadiene is used in the tube materials
in order to make it difficult for the drugs to be
adsorbed into the tube.
Neoprene is used in a wide variety of applications,
such as in wetsuits, laptop sleeves, braces (wrist,
knee, etc.),gloves,dry suit,gasket.
Elastomer Processing
 Polymerization
The beginning step for elastomers is the polymerization of the
backbone and cure-site monomers. Common techniques are
emulsion, microemulsion, polymerization. Polymerization
combines two or more process gases (monomers) into an
aqueous environment and under specific temperature and
pressure conditions connects the individual monomers into
the desired polymer. Initiating agents, buffers and other
chemicals may be added to the polymer reactor to achieve
the desired chemical properties.

 Isolation
The backbone polymers are isolated (brought out of the
emulsion), cleaned and dried. Chemical agents may be added
at this step to isolate the polymer "latex" into a more usable
form. Once the polymer is cleaned and dried, the "crumb"
polymer is shipped to compounders for mixing.
Compounding (mixing)
The "crumb" polymer is mixed with a cross-linking agent and other
functional fillers. The cross-linking agent allows chemical bonds to form
between the polymer backbones, thus providing resiliency to the material.
These ingredients are typically mixed together on a 2-roll mill or other custom
mixing machinery.

Extrusion
The sheet compound is extruded into a configuration similar to the desired finished
part.
 Molding
Most of the elastomeric O-rings used in the semiconductor industry are
compression molded. A preshaped form is inserted into a multi-section
mold and transferred to a heated press. Under heat and pressure, the
elastomer flows into the mold cavities and chemical cross-linking takes
place (or begins to take place, depending on the specific elastomer
compound). After a period of time ranging from several seconds to several
minutes, the parts are removed from the hot molds. Depending on the
compound, mold releases are often used.

 Flash Removal
After the parts are removed from the molds, they contain thin
"flash" as a result of the elastomer flowing in the multi-section
mold. This "flash" is typically removed by exposing the parts to
a tumbling process. The elastomer is cooled and tumbled,
causing the thinner "flash" section to become brittle and break
away from the main part. Additional tumbling may be required
on some part designs or compounds.
 Curing
Some high-performance elastomers are subjected to a post-curing
operation. Elastomer parts are exposed to high temperatures in carefully
controlled environments for several hours to complete the curing process.
Additionally, this post-curing step removes excess water vapor and volatile
process additives, thereby vacuum improves the curing process.
 Finishing and Inspection

After the parts are removed from the curing ovens,

the parts are again cleaned and inspected to ensure
the parts meet the material and dimensional
specifications.
 Cleaning
After the parts are inspected, acceptable parts are delivered to the Class 100 clean
room for cleaning and packaging. An ultrapure deionized water (UPDI) rinsing
cycle removes surface contamination from the parts.
 Packaging
Acceptable parts are then counted and packaged, either individually or in bulk, in
a heat-sealed clean inner bag. The parts are then packaged in an outer bag, with a
complete description of the parts, lot number, the batch and cure date.