Extruded Rubber Seals

Rubber Seals

Rubber seals are materials and shapes that fill gaps between seams and on surfaces to remove any sort of unwanted hole or space. They must be suitable to handle all sorts of temperatures, chemicals, pressure and environmental media. These seals are used in the aerospace, electrical, marine, medical and military industries as well as in homes, buildings and automobiles. They come in the form of films, gels, solids, putties and strips and will adhere to ceramics, glass, concrete, bricks, paper, other rubber, leather, textiles, metal, plastic, wood, all sorts of porous surfaces and composite materials. They are either made of polyisoprene-based natural rubber or synthetic rubber, which contains silicone, butyl, acrylic, vinyl or polyacrylate compounds.

Rubber seals are mainly used for weatherproofing and waterproofing buildings and automobiles in the cracks of windows and doors, which makes temperature control systems like air conditioning units and heating systems more efficient and inexpensive to run. Rubber strips and gaskets are applied to the top and bottom of windows and the bottom of doors where there are small cracks that water and cold temperatures can easily permeate. In electrical applications, rubber seals protect from electrostatic discharge and radio frequency interference. Each type of rubber seal has a different viscosity, cure time, tensile strength, elongation, shear strength and maximum temperature resistance. Most are coated with an adhesive on one side to stick to surfaces.