Chemical Forums

Specialty Chemistry Forums => Other Sciences Question Forum => Topic started by: kriscrash4x4 on February 05, 2010, 07:48:25 PM

Title: Ethylene glycol and rubber
Post by: kriscrash4x4 on February 05, 2010, 07:48:25 PM

Hi, im wondering if anybody here knows will ethylene glycol bought
from a automotive store can it react with rubber?, i mean like inner
tube rubber for the wheel on a tractor. im guessing its synthetic rubber but i dont know for sure. id like to know cause i want to add weight to increase traction but i dont want to melt the rubber inner tube.

Title: Re: Ethylene glycol and rubber
Post by: marquis on February 06, 2010, 11:59:32 AM

Without knowing the specifics of the rubber compound, you can't say for sure.  You may want to contact the tire vendor and see what they can tell you.

But, most rubber compounds do not like solvents like ethylene glycol.  The usual process is swelling.  The rubber that is in contact with the ethylene glycol will swell, usually over a period of days or weeks.

The rubber then looses most of its physicals strength properties.  A lot of times, the rubber looks like thin gelatin.