A DMTA study of the fuel resistance of elastomers

One of the major factors that determines the useful lifetime of a polymeric material is the chemical resistance of the polymer to its environment. Knowledge of the chemical resistance of gasket materials to their environment is critical as their failure leads to downtime for the system and increased maintenance costs, as well as fire and safety hazards. In this paper, the results of a dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) study of the chemical resistance of several elastomeric materials to naval distillate fuel and aviation turbine fuel are reported. The changes in weight, hardness, mechanical properties and glass transition temperature T_g are used to assess the effect of fuel exposure on the properties of the elastomers.