Ozone Cracking - Susceptible Elastomers

Susceptible Elastomers

Tiny traces of ozone in the air will attack double bonds in rubber chains, with natural rubber, polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene rubber and nitrile rubber being most sensitive to degradation. Every repeat unit in the first three materials has a double bond, so every unit can be degraded by ozone. Nitrile rubber is a copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile units, but the proportion of acrylonitrile is usually lower than butadiene, so attack occurs. Butyl rubber is more resistant but still has a small number of double bonds in its chains, so attack is possible. Exposed surfaces are attacked first, the density of cracks varying with ozone gas concentration. The higher the concentration, the greater the number of cracks formed.

Ozone-resistant elastomers include EPDM, fluoroelastomers like Viton and polychloroprene rubbers like Neoprene. Attack is less likely because double bonds form a very small proportion of the chains, and with the latter, the chlorination reduces the electron density in the double bonds, therefore lowering their propensity to react with ozone. Silicone rubber, Hypalon and polyurethanes are also ozone-resistant.