Silicone Rubber (VMQ)

Family

Rubber

Category

rubber

Density

0.98 g/cm³ · 980 kg/m³

ASTM designation

VMQ · D2000 FE

Shore A hardness

70 · the sealing default, selected for the gland rather than the polymer

Service temperature

-54 to 204 °C · -65 to 399 °F

Typical media

Dry heat and cold, air, static service; some fuels and solvents

Family screening range from Parker O-Ring Handbook ORD 5700, §2.2 — the range for the polymer family, not for any one compound. Within a family the filler and cure system move the limit by tens of degrees, so the compound data sheet governs the finished part.

The grey figures are converted at °F = °C × 9/5 + 32; the Celsius numbers are the published ones.

Oil & fuel

Variable, and the family name tells you nothing. Some compounds take fuel, others swell badly — this is the one family here where the compound data sheet must be read before use.

Weather & ozone

Excellent. Ozone, UV and long-term heat ageing barely touch it, and it stays flexible far below freezing.

Sealing

Static sealing against heat with low mechanical load: oven and exhaust gaskets, electrical enclosures, food and medical equipment. Tears easily, so nothing with a sharp edge or a sliding contact.

These lines are not measurements: no units, no single source. They describe how the family is generally found to behave — which media it survives and what it will seal — rather than what any one compound is guaranteed to do. The media a joint will meet decides the family before the temperature does.

• Tears easily and has poor abrasion resistance — static joints only
• Attacked by some fuels and solvents; check the compound, not the family
• Chosen for food, medical and electrical service as much as for heat