Blooming Rubber 1

[BWolter]

I am having issues cleaning off bloom on some natural rubber parts. I have tried numerous cleaning solutions and various ways of scrubbing the parts from abrasive cloths to wire brushes. I have been told based on the rubber characteristics the formula cannot be changed. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of this bloom issue?

 

[hacki72]

Mabe you never get clean parts.
The thing is that rubber-compounds often have chemicals
for ozone-resistance or UV-resistance that must bloom out of the surface to protect the parts.

Greetings
hacki72

 

[bjm1969]

Autoclaving may help followed by a rewash. To keep the blooming effect to a minimum, keep the parts covered from light. Fluorescent lighting will cause ingredients to rise to the surface layer of parts causing the cloudy, white blooming effect. Keep exposeure to lighting to a minimum.

 

[fluxer]

Two reasons:
1.The parts were molded using the unproper compound which contains too much ingredients, it's mean that the recipe is not good.
2.Or your application require better UV or OZONE RESISTANT property, so the compound contain some resistant agents that cause blooming.

 

[tom1953]

Rubber bloom is primarily a solubility issue; ingredients bloom when they're in the compound beyond their solubility limit. As mentioned previously, some antiozonants are designed to bloom to the surface to protect the rubber from ozone. If it's a white bloom, it may be from the rubber curatives/accelerators. In any case, maybe you can wash/wipe the surface with a detergent or an "ArmorAll"-type material. FWIW, warming the rubber parts will probably temporarily remove the bloom as the solubility generally increases with temperature. Unfortunately, coming back to room temperature may cause re-blooming.
tom