A Method for Predicting the Volume Increase of Fuel Handling Rubbers in Complex Fuel Blends

The use of to toluene/isooctane/alcohol blends to simulate the swelling behavior of rubbers in alcohol blends has been reported recently. The Hildebrand blending rule was used to calculate the partial solubility parameters for a wide compositional range of toluene/isooctane/alcohol blends. Appropriate plots were prepared which define the swelling characteristics of fuel handling rubbers as a function of these parameters. These swell contours provide a method for predicting the volume increase of rubbers in complex fuels whose partial solubility parameters have been calculated.