The chart below is intended to help in the material selection stage of designing rubber parts / products. Rubber compounding is a very broad and technical field, since basic rubbers or elastomers are mixed with various chemicals and ingredients (and even with each other) to obtain desired physical properties.
| Common Name(s) | Designation (2) | Composition | Min/Max Temp Operating Range (F) (5) | General Properties(1) | Resistant to: | Attacked by: |
| Neoprene | CR | Chloroprene | -30 F / 212 F | Good Weathering Resistance. Flame retarding. Moderate resistance to petroleum-based fluids. | Moderate chemicals and acids, oils, fats, greases, many oils, and solvents. | Strong oxidizing acids, esters, ketones, chlorinated, aromatic and nitro hydrocarbons. |
| EPDM | EPDM, EPM | Ethylene-propylene-diene; Ethylene-propylene | -15 F / 356 F | Excellent chemical, and aging resistance. Poor resistance to petroleum-based fluids. | Animal and vegetable oils, strong and oxidizing chemicals. | Mineral oils and solvents, aromatic hydrocarbons. |
| Buna-N | NBR | Nitrile-butadiene | -40 F / 320 F | Excellent resistance to petroleum-based fluids. Good physical properties. | Many hydrocarbons, fats, oils, greases, hydraulic fluids, chemicals. | Ketones, esters, aldehydes, chlorinated and nitro hydrocarbons. |
| Butyl | IIR | Isobutene-isoprene | -60 F / 250 F | Very good weathering resistance. Excellent dielectric properties. Low permeability to air. Good physical properties. Poor resistance to petroleum-based fluids. | Animal and vegetable fats, oils, greases, strong and oxidizing chemicals. | Petroleum, solvents, coal tar solvents, aromatic hydrocarbons. |
| Viton ® (4), Fluoro-elastomer | FKM | Hexaflouropropylene- vinylidene fluoride | – 10 F / 356 F | Excellent oil and air resistance both at low and high temperatures. Very good chemical resistance. | All aliphatic, aromatic and halogenated hydrocarbons, acids, animal and vegetable oils. | Ketones, low molecular weight esters and nitro containing compounds. |
| Viton® A | FKMA | vinylidene fluoride and hexafluoropropylene | – 10 F / 356 F | High resistance to extreme temperatures, most fluids for industrial use, thermal cycles | Ketones, low molecular weight esters and nitro containing compounds. | |
| Viton® B | FKMB | vinylidene, hexafluoropropylene and tetrafluoroethylene | – 10 F / 356 F | The vulconisates keep their technical characteristics better than standard FKM after heat exposure and ageing | Ketones, low molecular weight esters and nitro containing compounds. | |
| Viton® G | FKMG | – 10 F / 356 F | High resistance to extreme temperature, optimum resistance to chemical products | Ketones, low molecular weight esters and nitro containing compounds. | ||
| Hydrogenated Nitrile | HNBR | Hydrogenated Acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber | -20 / 250 F | Excellent heat and oil resistance, improved fuel and ozone resistance (approximately 5X) over Nitrile Good abrasion resistance. Decreased elasticity at low temperatures with hydrogenation over standard nitrile. | Many hydrocarbons, transmission fluids, refrigerants, diluted acids, hydraulic fluids, silicone oils, vegetable and animal fats and oils, water and steam. | Chlorated hydrocarbons, keytones, strong acids. |
Viton® is a registered trade mark of DuPont Dow Elastomers