Suitability of Corkrubber Gaskets in Gasoline-Ethanol Blends

The increasing use of biofuels, namely blends of gasoline with ethanol, requires the identification of its impact on the fuel admission components of internal combustion engines that have not been specially design to work with high levels of ethanol. This paper provides a discussion on performance testing of corkrubber gaskets from a commercial company (ACC - Amorim Cork Composites) to seal these engines using gasoline and gasoline-ethanol blends. In order to evaluate the chemical compatibility of four corkrubber composites, several samples were immersed in different blends of gasoline with ethanol to determine the changes of hardness, volume, thickness and weight. The results of these tests differed between materials, but all of them showed less damage tolerance to blends with low and medium percentages of ethanol (e.g., E5, E10, E25, E50) when compared to gasoline or blends with higher percentages of ethanol (E85).An aggressiveness factor is proposed to compile results from the immersion tests. Validation tests were carried out in conditions as close as possible to the service and accordingly to similar test standards. This study allows concluding on which of these corkrubber composites have adequate sealing properties for gasoline as well as blends of gasoline with ethanol.