I would like to cut some gaskets from fel-pro 3157 sheets but I’m having trouble finding info on whether it’s chlorinated or not. I’ve emailed their tech support but still haven’t gotten a response. Is there a way to tell whether a rubber sheet is chlorinated?
Couldn’t find anything except that others have asked: https://www.reddit.com/r/lasercut/comments/5x6779/laser_cutting_rubberfiber_gaskets/
And, a couple of places people warned that Fel-Pro sometimes changes material without changing the labelling.
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From what I have found on the Web, and this isn’t definitive, chlorinated rubber is used heavily in adhesive and paint. That leads me to believe that it probably isn’t used in solid rubber products, but it would be nice to find something that just started that in as many words.
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Try searching for the msds sheet. If it releases chlorine when burned than it usually says it for firefighters.
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As you’ve seen elsewhere, but for others that may find the information useful:
There’s a significant chance that the “rubber” component in this material is a fluoroelastomer: Fluoroelastomer - Wikipedia
As such the risk isn’t that it’s chlorinated, but that it’s fluorinated, which is significantly worse. If you think hydrochloric acid or chlorine gas is bad, hydrofluoric acid and fluorine gas are another order of magnitude more hazardous.
The Beilstein test: Beilstein test - Wikipedia will detect organic chlorides, but releases the very hazardous chemicals that you are trying to avoid. And, won’t detect fluorides. If you want to try that test, I’d recommend doing it outside and at night and while wearing a chemical respirator. A very tiny sample is all that’s involved.
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It’s just SDS. The M was dropped several years ago. And I did search and was not able to find anything.
Wow… like there’s dying to chlorine that’s bad, but yeah dying to fluorine really sucks!
The only way it gets worse, is when you put them together. Sand Won’t Save You This Time – Corante
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Somebody on another forum has a contact there and asked about it for me. It is safe to cut on the laser.
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