Butyl Rubber: Compound Development and Characterization.

This report is intended to summarize the research efforts at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory ARL and at the Materials Technology Laboratory, currently the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate WMRD, to develop the standard butyl rubber compound. The strategy of this work was to compound- and compression-mold high-quality, uniform butyl rubber experimental sheets and to evaluate their cure properties, mechanical properties, and-most importantly-their protective barrier properties, as determined by the MIL-282 method 204 droplet breakthrough test performed at the Edgewood Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Product Assurance Directorate ERDEC-PAD. The test was performed at ERDEC with chemical agents in a qualified laboratory environment and with chemical agent simulants at ARL in Watertown, MA.