Abstract
The seals for automotive windows, doors, lights, etc. may all be considered as weatherstrip or weatherseals. The production of weather strip usually involves the extrusion of a complex shaped profile with precisely defined dimensions (see Figure 17.1). Rubber has for many years been used for sealing purposes in a vehicle; it is flexible and resilient and can be extruded relatively easily. In the early 1970s, automotive weatherstrip was made from a single polymer rubber, mainly natural rubber (NR) which has excellent resilience, but relatively poor weathering resistance. However, other elastomers including styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), polychloroprene (CR) and ethylene-propylene-diene monomer rubber (EPDM) were also used [1]. Towards the end of the 1970s EPDM had become dominant primarily because of its superior weathering and ozone resistance coupled with its high filler acceptance and wide processing latitude. Analysis [2] of a recent, medium-sized, high sales volume vehicle has shown that more than 66% of the non-tyre rubber used in the car is based on EPDM of which some 75% is EPDM weatherstrip of some form. This compares with about 12% of the non-tyre rubber in a car being NR.
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