The phenomena of corrosive attack and disintegration on rubber linings are similar to phenomena that occur with metals in contact with corrosive fluids. Many alloys are corrosion resistant as a result of films which form and make them passive. In some corrosive services, rubber linings exhibit the same ability to form passive or inert films, which limit further absorption and chemical attack on the rubber material beneath this inert surface layer. Rubber compositions in long contact with concentrated hydrochloric acid will develop a rubber hydrochloride film, which film is more inert than the parent compound and markedly lowers any further absorption and attack of the hydrochloric acid on the rubber compound. Solutions of chlorine in water appear to cause the same phenomena, forming a protective surface hardened against active attack of the rubber composition, by which the rate of attack is lowered greatly.
Rubber linings and alloys are similar in...
