Rubber Properties
Welcome to our Rubber Properties section
Here you will find a rubber properties chart for all popular rubber materials. This rubber materials comparison chart gives you key factors in your choice of rubber mechanical properties. Use the rubber comparison chart to find the most economical seal. Or better yet, use the rubber chart to find which material will best suit your environment. For example, if you need to find rubber compression properties, rubber weather resistance or even rubber ozone resistance for your O-rings, you can find the best combination of elastomer properties by using this O-ring material guide for your application. If you are looking for detailed rubber specifications such as tensile specs in psi or elongation percentages for our rubber materials, go to our rubber specifications section.
ASTM D1418 DesignationNBRSBR, BRIIRCREPM, EPDMFKMFSI, FVMQHNBRNR / IRACMSi, VMQ, MQ, MQ, PVMQ
| Elastomer | Buna-N (Nitrile) | Butadiene, Styrene Butadiene | Butyl | Chloroprene (Neoprene®) | Ethylene Propylene | Fluorocarbon (Viton®) | Fluorosilicone | Hydrogenated Nitrile | Natural Rubber / Isoprene | Polyacrylate | Silicone |
| Brief Summary | Nitrile has good mechanical properties and high wear resistance relative to other elastomers. Unless they are specially compounded, nitrile is not resistant to weathering, sunlight and ozone. | SBR is similar to natural rubber. SBR is mostly used in tires and seals for non-mineral oil based applications. | Butyl has a very low permeability rate making it a great seal under vacuum. Butyl also has good electrical, shock dampening properties. | Neoprene® exhibits good oil, ozone, weather, aging, refrigeration and chemical resistance. It also has good mechanical properties over a wide temperature range. | Ethylene Propylene Copolymer has excellent resistance to phosphate ester fluids (Skydrol), brake fluids (glycol base), steam, weather, and ozone. | Responds very well with resistance to ozone, high temperatures, oxygen, mineral oil, synthetic hydraulic fluids, fuels, aromatics and many organic solvents and chemicals. The universal O-ring. | Has excellent resistance to petroleum oils and fuels. Fluorosilicone has limited strength and abrasion resistance so it is generally recommended for static applications only. | HNBR has excellent abrasion, compression set, tensile, and tear properties. Unlike standard nitriles, HNBR resists ozone, sunlight, and other atmospheric environments. | Natural Rubber / Isoprene has excellent dynamic properties. However, it does not do well with petroleum oils, sunlight and ozone. | Polyacrylate is used in applications such as transmissions or anything where there is petroleum oils and high temperature. Highly resistant to ozone and weathering. | Silicon exhibits great temperature range capabilities. Silicones also has good resistance to ozone, weather and is also a good insulator. However, it has low tensile, tear and wear resistance. |
| Economy (Cost) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Tensile Strength | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Maximum Elongation (%) | 600 | 600 | 800 | 600 | 600 | 300 | 600 | 340 | 700 | 600 | 800 |
| Min Hardness (Shore A) | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 40 | 40 | 25 |
| Max Hardness (Shore A) | 90 | 90 | 80 | 90 | 90 | 95 | 80 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 80 |
| Resilience/ Rebound |
2 | 2 | 4 | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 2 | - | 1 | 3 | 2.5 |
| Compression Set | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 3 | 1.5 |
| Adhesion to Metals | 1.5 | 1 | 2 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Abrasion Resistance | 2 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 2 | 4 | 1.5 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Tear Resistance | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4 | 2 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4 |
| Weather Resistance | 3 | 3 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3.5 | 1 | 1 |
| Ozone Resistance | 4 | 4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Dynamic Properties | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 4 | 1.5 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Electrical Properties | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Water Swell Resistance | 2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 1 | 2 | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Steam Resistance | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 |
| Flame Resistance | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Gas Impermeability | 1.5 | 2.5 | 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Chemical Resistance | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1 | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 4 | 1.5 |
| Acid Resistance | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 1 | 2.5 | 1 | 2.5 | 4 | 2.5 |
| Alkali Resistance | 2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1 | 2.5 | - | 1 | 1.5 | 4 | 1 |
| Alcohols | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1 | 1.5 | 1 | 2.5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1.5 |
| Lubricating Oils (Petroleum) | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1.5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Aliphatic Hydrocarbons | 1.5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 4 | 2.5 | 4 |
| Aromatic Hydrocarbons | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Halogenated Hydrocarbons | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 4 |
| Phosphate Ester (Skydrol) | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3.5 | - | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Polar Solvents (Keytones) | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2.5 | 4 | 4 |
| Key: | 1: Excellent 2: Good 3: Fair 4: Poor |