Articles

Product formulation knowledge has, by convention, typically remained an expertise held by a small
number of highly experienced individuals within organizations. These individuals are often chemists
who have amassed an impressive amount of both physical knowledge (countless datasets) and
intrinsic experience (under-documented subject matter “know-how” and insight) through long
careers spent studying relevant scientific principles and conducting physical experiments.

In looking at elastomer testing in general and CSR testing in particular, there can be variations in the results when theoretically testing to the same test procedure. There can be various reasons for this, from equipment that is not capable, to procedures that are not adequate, to operators that are not knowledgeable. In the rubber industry, which can be considered a “legacy” industry, this can be even more problematic due to issues related to variations in the material, mixing and processing. These items can have a significant effect on the variation of properties of a cured product. Being a legacy business or industry, the rubber industry has been around for about 175 years, with materials based on synthetic polymers dating back about 100 years.