Founded in 2003 Elastomer Research Testing BV offers a complete range of equipment and know-how for testing elastomer and rubber compounds. The laboratory is very well equipped and the founders have extensive academic and practical knowledge and experience in the rubber industry. Choosing ERT BV as a partner extends the research capacity and enlarges the competitive force without investing large amounts of money in expensive, hardly used laboratory equipment. This presentation gives an overview of all the services ERT can supply you with.

The early users of vulcanized natural rubber soon became aware of the sensitivity of the material to deterioration under a variety of conditions and in a number of ways. These include the change to a sticky mass on general ageing, the formation of cracks in a direction perpendicular to the application, deterioration in contact with copper wire and the surface hardening that could be observed after exposure to (sun)light. Degradation in a rubber article is a chemical process which decreases its quality, leading to material failures. This degradation process is initiated mainly by outside factors. Different factors causing degradation are: oxygen, heat, light and weathering, effect of metal ions, dynamic fatigue and ozone. This presentation will give you an overview of all the possibilities Elastomer Research Testing BV has to perform standardized (accelerated) ageing tests and how we can contribute to improvement of customer products.

The Payne effect (a substantial decrease in the storage modulus of a particle-reinforced elastomer with an increase in the amplitude of mechanical oscillations) gives rise to waste of energy in dynamical applications of reinforced rubber and should be minimized as far as possible. As an aid in compounding we use at ERT B.V. two different pieces of equipment (Rubber Process Analyzer from Alpha Technologies and the Eplexor 150 from Gabo Qualimeter) to measure the Payne effect. This lecture discusses our experiences with both instruments.