Rubber Substitute

Many Industrial Uses Indicated For New Rubber Company Product

(The following article, which appeared in an American business journal in January, 1934, will be of interest to planters in Papua.) PERFECTED in the laboratories of the B. F. Goodrich Co., Koroseal, a new synthetic rubber-like substance, is just being put into production on a commercial basis.

Continuous tests of the material and a wide variety of experimental applica tions to uses where rubber or other ma terials are used at present, have failed to exhaust market possibilities; new and previously unlooked for properties are still being discovered by Goodrich chemists and engineers.

Although of a different chemical com position, Koroseal, like rubber, can be variously compounded to be hard or soft. When given a doughy consistency, it can be molded into any shape. It takes a variety of colours and is odourless, Goodrich chemists point out that, un like ordinary rubber, Koroseal does not swell and soften when exposed to oils and greases, resists disintegration in the presence of corrosive chemicals, stands up under the action of hot, concentrated nitric acid or chromic acid, and offers great ‘ resistance to light and oxidation.

J. W. Schade, director of research of the B. F. Goodrich Co., adds that it also has a far longer flexing life than rubber.

For Moulding, For Gaskets

The ability of Koroseal to resist mois ture and its stability over a wide range of temperature is held to make it ideal for moulding ornamental plaster casts. In regular factory operation, over 500 casts from a single Koroseal mould left it still serviceable, where an ordinary glue mould would have failed after perhaps 50 castings.

For use at points where swelling is objectionable, oil sealing gaskets made from the new material have been found far superior to rubber, Koroseal also has been found effective for piston pack ing since it insures a tight seal around the piston in the presence of oil.

Mr. Schade states that at present the cost of manufacturing Koroseal pre cludes its adoption as a general substitute for rubber.