ISMAT's Chemical Compatibility Guide helps you choose the right sealing material for safety, efficiency and equipment longevity. It covers nine elastomer and thermoplastic families — ACM, CR, EPDM, FFKM, FKM, FVMQ, HNBR, NBR and VMQ — benchmarked against 847 industrial chemicals, backed by 40+ years of field data. Media exposure, oxygen, ozone, temperature and pressure all degrade seal performance, causing swelling, shrinking, hardening or failure — so verifying chemical compatibility upfront is essential, whether you are specifying seals for oil & gas, pharmaceutical, automotive or chemical manufacturing applications.

Step 1 — Identify your chemical media. Use the A–Z filter or search bar to locate the chemical your sealing component will contact. For mixed media, evaluate each constituent separately and select the material satisfying the most restrictive compatibility requirement across all chemicals present.

Step 2 — Read the compatibility rating. Each row shows suitability of all nine ISMAT material families at ambient temperature. "Very good suitability" means less than 10% change in volume and mechanical properties after prolonged immersion. "Good suitability" signals acceptable performance with minor property changes. "Limited suitability" implies potential degradation — suitable only for short-contact or dynamic conditions with regular inspection. "Unsuitable" indicates significant material attack — avoid entirely.

Step 3 — Verify against operating conditions. Temperature profoundly affects chemical resistance. Materials performing well at ambient temperature may degrade rapidly at elevated temperatures. Consult ISMAT's technical datasheets and contact our engineering team when your application involves temperatures above 100°C, high pressures, rapid pressure cycling or aggressive media concentrations above 50%.