Deterioration of Rubber Products by Water

Manufacturer: Should we worry about the water resistance of our rubber products? What test we need to do to measure the water resistance and how to ensure our products have maximum resistance to water?


John Woon (Senior Latex Consultant):  Generally speaking most rubbers have some inherent water repellency when compared to other materials such as paper, fabric, wood and leather. All rubbers whether natural or synthetic, adsorb water to a certain extent resulting in a lower physical properties such as tensile strength.

The standard test for water resistance is similar to that for oil resistance (ASTM D471). This test method covers the required procedures to evaluate the comparative ability of rubber and rubber-like compositions to withstand the effect of liquids by immersion.




You have to be aware of the fact that the choice of your compounding ingredients play an important part in the sensitivity of  rubber to water. The use of hydrophilic and water soluble materials should be avoided or minimised. Also, a deproteinised natural rubber is superior to other grades of natural rubber.