Abrasion - the surface loss of material due to frictional forces.
Abrasion Resistance - the resistance of a material to loss of surface particle due to frictional forces.
Blister - a cavity or sac that deforms the surface of a material.
Cell - a single small cavity surrounded partially or completely by walls.
Cellular Material - a generic term for materials containing many cells (either open, closed or both) dispersed throughout the mass.
Cellular Rubbers - a cellular material made of rubber. Cellular rubber products all contain cells or small hollow receptacles. The cells may either be open or interconnecting, or closed and not interconnecting.
Closed Cell - a cell totally enclosed by its walls and hence not interconnecting with other cells.
Collapse - inadvertent densification of a cellular material during its manufacture resulting from breakdown of its cellular structure.
Compound - an intimate mixture of a polymer with all the ingredients necessary for the finished article.
Compression Deflection - PSI to compress lab slab a specified percentage of overall height, normally 25%.
Compression Set - the residual deformation after removal of the force that has subjected the specimen to compression.
Crazing - a surface effect on rubber articles characterized by many minute cracks.
Cure - the act of vulcanization. See vulcanization.
Durometer - an instrument for measuring the hardness of vulcanized rubber or plastic. Shore 00 scale is for sponge, Shore A for dense/solid.
Durometer Hardness - an arbitrary numbering scale that indicates the resistance to indentor point of the durometer. High values indicate harder materials.
Expanded Rubber - Cellular Rubber having closed cells made from a solid rubber compound.
Open Cell - a cell not totally enclosed by its walls and hence interconnecting with other cells.
Ozone Cracking - the surface cracks, checks or crazing caused by exposure to an atmosphere containing ozone.
Post Cure - heat or radiation treatment to which a cured or partially cured rubber is subjected to enhance one or more properties.
Rebound - a measure of the resilience, usually as the percentage of vertical return of a body that has fallen and bounced.
Rubber - a material that is capable of recovering from large deformations quickly and forcibly, and can be, or already is, modified to a state in which it is essentially insoluble (but can swell) in boiling solvent, such as benzene, methyl ethyl, ketone and ethanol-tulene isotope.
Set - strain remaining after complete release of the load producing the deformation.
Shelf Aging - the time an unvulcanized rubber stock can be stored without losing any of its processing or curing properties.
Shore Hardness - see durometer hardness.
Skin - a relatively dense layer at the surface of a cellular material.
Sponge Rubber - cellular rubber consisting predominantly of open cells made from a solid rubber compound.
Substrate - a material upon the surface of which an adhesive is applied for any purpose such as bonding or coating.
Tear Strength - the maximum load required to tear apart a specified specimen, the load acting substantially parallel to the major axis of the test specimen.
Tensile Strength - the maximum tensile stress applied during stretching a specimen to rupture.
Vulcanizate - preferably used to denote the product of vulcanization, without reference to its shape or form.
Vulcanization - an irreversible process during which a rubber compound through a change in its chemical structure (for example: cross-linking) becomes less plastic and more resistant to swelling by organic liquids and elastic properties are conferred, improved, or extended over a greater range of temperature.
Weathering - the surface deterioration of a rubber article during outdoor exposure, such as checking, cracking, crazing or chalking.
