The Selection of Temperature, Frequency, and Strain Test Conditions for Rheological Measurements to Improve Rubber Testing

In the last two decades, rubber process analyzers (RPAs) have been used increasingly to predict changes in a rubber compound’s processing and / or  product performance by measuring viscoelastic properties at preselected conditions of temperature, frequency, and strain.  Over time, it has been discovered that the selection of specific RPA test conditions will result in better statistical test sensitivity to subtle differences in factory processing and rubber product performance.  This paper discusses the effects of variation in temperature, frequency, and strain on test discernability.