Rubber Aging & Environmental Testing Equipment

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Rubber Aging & Environmental Testing Equipment
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Rubber changes with time: heat hardens it, cold stiffens it and light fades it, and a part that passes on the day it is made may fail after a season in service. Aging and environmental tests bring that exposure forward into the laboratory, so compounds can be compared before parts are released. NextGen works to ASTM D573 and ISO 188 for heat aging in air.

The range covers high-temperature aging ovens with forced convection and programmable cycles, temperature and humidity chambers for conditioning, a freezing tester for cold resistance and a UV discoloration meter for fading. Equipment is installed and calibrated on site, your team is trained on exposure cycles, and support continues for the life of the equipment.

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What Aging and Environmental Tests Measure

Aging tests expose rubber to heat, cold, humidity or light, then compare properties before and after exposure, such as hardness, tensile strength, elongation or color. A common form is heat aging in an air oven: specimens are held at an elevated temperature for a set time, and the change is reported as before and after values and a percent change. Tires, seals, gaskets, hoses and belts see prolonged heat in service, medical device seals and tubing see sterilization cycles, and footwear and leather materials see heat during production and use.

Cold and light are tested separately. Cold work asks whether a material still behaves once it is cold, with specimens flexed inside a low-temperature chamber, and light work asks how well a color holds under simulated sunlight.

Standards for Rubber Aging

ASTM D573 covers deterioration of vulcanized rubber in an air oven, and ISO 188 covers accelerated aging and heat resistance tests for vulcanized and thermoplastic rubber. NextGen's NG-AGOV-ADV page lists support for the static air method of ISO 188. GB/T 3512 and BS 903 are national heat aging methods for rubber, and ASTM E145 sets performance criteria for laboratory ovens, which is why temperature uniformity matters.

What Affects Aging Results

Temperature uniformity, airflow, exposure time control and traceable monitoring decide whether two ovens give the same answer, so the oven can matter as much as the property tests that follow. Accelerated aging is a laboratory comparison and may not predict service life under real-world conditions. In a humidity chamber, the humidity available depends on the temperature set.

Aging and Environmental Equipment from NextGen

The NG-AGOV-ADV aging oven holds temperatures up to 300 °C with forced convection, PID control and programmable cycles. The NG-EC environmental chambers come in five sizes from 100 to 1000 L for temperature and humidity conditioning. The GenFreeze freezing tester works specimens with flexing and beater fixtures inside a low-temperature chamber, and the discoloration meter exposes specimens to UV light and heat to check how color holds. The oven has adjustable trays and a touchscreen for heating steps, duration and air exchange, and larger ovens are available on request. The chambers hold -40 °C to +150 °C and 20% to 98% RH.

For Laboratories

One partner to equip your complete rubber laboratory

Aging and conditioning is one station of an elastomer laboratory. NextGen equips the rest of it too, from tensile frames to cure testing, hardness, abrasion and specimen preparation, and stays responsible for it after delivery.

  • Equipment, fixtures and software
  • Installation, training, calibration
  • Lifetime technical support

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Products

4 products
NG-AGOV-ADV – High-Temperature Aging Oven 300 °C Accelerated aging NG-AGOV-ADV – High-Temperature Aging Oven NG-AGOV-ADV is a high-temperature aging oven for testing how rubber, plastics, elastomers, insulating materials, and… View product Get quote Most requested NG-EC Series – Environmental Test Chambers Environmental conditioning NG-EC Series – Environmental Test Chambers NextGen NG-EC Environmental Chambers provide controlled temperature and humidity conditions for material, product,… View product Get quote GenFreeze – Freezing Tester Low-temperature testing GenFreeze – Freezing Tester GenFreeze is a freezing tester for evaluating rubber, leather, plastics, PU leather, footwear materials, and related… View product Get quote Discoloration Meter Discoloration testing Discoloration Meter The Discoloration Meter simulates sunlight and heat exposure to evaluate how fabrics, rubber, plastics, and other… View product Get quote

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FAQs

The NG-AGOV-ADV page lists the static air method of ISO 188, ASTM D573, BS 903 and GB/T 3512 for rubber, along with IEC 60216-4-1 and UL 1581 for insulation and ASTM E145 for laboratory ovens. State the standard, the temperature and the number of specimens in a quote request and the model is confirmed.

The NG-AGOV-ADV circulates air by forced convection through an internal duct and regulates temperature with a PID controller and a platinum resistance sensor. Accuracy is ±0.1 °C, and uniformity is ±2 °C at 100 °C. Air exchange is adjustable from 3 to 10 per hour, and over-temperature protection and alarms are built in. The chamber is 600 × 500 × 750 mm.

Pick the volume that takes your specimens and racks. The NG-EC chambers come in 100, 150, 225, 408 and 1000 L, with interiors from 20 × 20 × 16 in to 39 × 39 × 39 in. Two stainless steel racks carry a maximum load of 100 kg. The two smaller sizes run on a single-phase 220 V supply, and the larger sizes need three-phase 380 V, so check your supply too.

The NG-EC series holds -40 °C to +150 °C, with humidity from 20% to 98% RH between +20 °C and +85 °C, and temperature fluctuation of ±0.5 °C or less in an empty chamber. A 7-inch touchscreen stores up to 250 programs, saves run data for 90 days and exports it over USB. The humidity available depends on the temperature set.

The GenFreeze holds a low temperature while a beater and flexing grip work the specimen, so the part is bent at the temperature it will meet in service. GenFreeze-H is a horizontal cabinet and GenFreeze-V is an upright unit. Both come with a range down to -30 °C or to -50 °C, with uniformity of ±1 °C and fixtures for sole, leather and shoe flexing.

The discoloration meter places a specimen under two germicidal UV lamps at temperatures from room temperature to 200 °C and counts the exposure on an LED counter. NG-DISCO-A is the bench unit with a 50 × 30 × 35 cm interior. NG-DISCO-B is a floor-standing unit with a 150 L chamber, the one to consider for large specimens or several at once.