Maintaining tank integrity is key to preventing spills and other significant failures. One aspect crucial to ensuring integrity is using rubber liners in your tanks. Rubber serves as a secondary containment liner to help safeguard tanks from the often highly corrosive and harsh materials stored within. This helps prevent corrosion and tank deterioration, extending tank life and your investment. How is rubber strong enough to withstand such abrasive materials? Tank fabricators use pressure vulcanization, a process used to strengthen rubber.
Rubber vulcanization is a practice in which fabricators apply temperatures up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit to either natural or synthetic rubber and mix it with sulfur to enhance and strengthen the rubber’s physical properties. Pressure vulcanization creates strong, nonstick rubber products. This pressurized rubber is beneficial because it’s more elastic over a greater range of temperatures and, most important, more resistant to abrasion and swelling. In fact, fabricators can mold and cut vulcanized rubber into different shapes and products for applications such as protecting equipment and lining tanks.
Vulcanized rubber is ideal for lining storage tanks because of its strength and ability to maintain its original properties despite the harsh materials tanks hold. This strengthened rubber is known for its elasticity, or its ability to stretch and mold, without losing or compromising its protective characteristics. Compared to other materials, vulcanized rubber does not absorb water or other materials tanks hold, and it is also resistant to reactions with solvents or oxidizing agents. These properties make the material an exceptionally effective tank liner, helping tank owners significantly reduce corrosion risks.
Many different types of vulcanized rubber linings are available for tanks and piping. Some rubbers are better than others, depending on system conditions including temperature, materials the tank will hold, tank or pipe design, and use. Durable rubber tank and piping options include:
Soft natural- Semi hard natural
- Bromobutyl
- Chlorobutyl
- Neoprene
- Ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM)
- Nitrile
Moon Fabricating Corporation — Your rubber vulcanization experts
At Moon Fabricating, we understand the valuable properties of vulcanized rubber in pipe and tank linings. That’s why we utilize this technology extensively. We have state of the art vulcanization equipment and comprehensive experience implementing vulcanized rubber linings. Our highly sensitive electronic monitoring controls guide our high pressure steam vulcanization process to provide superior rubber lining bonding and curing for your lining needs. We can aid you in designing and implementing the best rubber linings to protect the integrity of your tanks and pipes no matter your application.