FT-IR and biological evaluations of native and artificially aged rubber mixes

Water safety is an important quality objective, and special attention needs to be devoted to the pipes in which it runs. Rubber is one of the most widely used materials for drinking-water pipes. The various types of rubber are mixes often with vulcanising agents added to improve mechanical properties. The present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the behaviour of three currently used elastomer prototype mixes devised for use as water pipes before and after an artificial ageing procedure. Contact surface with the water was determined and “quality”-tested using SEM, AFM, FT-IR and biological (biocompatibility and bacterial adhesion) analyses. Differences in rubber composition between the native mixes were shown using FT-IR. Photo-ageing induced degradation of the surface film and in some cases gave rise to alkene derivatives with a small carbonyl component. Comparison of chemical, morphological and biological data before and after photo-ageing highlights the risk to which pipes are exposed over time even in the absence of specific chemico-physical insults.