Application of Rubber Surface Fluorination with Xenon Difluoride

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OF RUBBER SURFACE FLUORINATION WITH XENON DIFLUORIDE 

The simple calculations presented below will show that surface fluorination of rubbers with XeF2 is economically advantageous as compared with fluoro-rubbers. The amount ofXeF2 needed for batch treatment of 5000 O-rings made from EPDM rubber (diam. 10.2 x 1.5 mm) is approximately 20 g. That means that the cost ofthe XeF2 needed for one batch treatment, is 20 x 1.5 = 30 for 5000 O-rings or about 0.0006 each. It should be kept in mind that, as mentioned above, the price for fluororubber is thirty times that of EPDM. 

Although we have no specific data on the economics of rubber surface fluorination with the traditional F2/N2 mixture, in our opinion the following facts make the XeF2 technique very attractive for rubber manufacturers  

Unlike using traditional methods there are no health, explosion, or fire hazards. 

Another argument in favor ofthe XeF2 method is the evidence that since 1995 it has been used by a manufacturing company that had no previous experience with direct fluorination or fluorine at all. 

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