Glossary - A's

Abrasion (r) the surface loss of a material due to frictional forces.

Absorption the penetration of matter in bulk into other matter, as in dissolving of a gas by a liquid.

Accelerator (r) a compounding material used in small amounts with a vulcanizing agent to increase the speed of vulcanization.

Accelerator, delayed action (r) an accelerator that, in conjunction with other curing agent(s), produces, at vulcanizing temperatures, a period of no significant cross-linking, followed by a period of rapid cross-link formation.

Accuracy a concept of exactness. When applied to a test method, it denotes the extent to which bias is absent; when applied to a measured value, it denotes the extent to which both bias and random error are absent.

Activator (r) compounding material used in small proportions to increase the effectiveness of an accelerator.

Adhesion failure (r) the loss of structural integrity due to the separation of two bonded surfaces at the bond interface.

Adsorption the surface retention of matter by other matter.

Agglomerate, latex (r) a cluster of rubber particles in a colloidal aqueous suspension of such particles.

Agglomerates (r) clusters of particles of compounding materials contained in a continuous rubber phase.

Aging (act of) (r) exposure of materials to a deteriorating environment for a specified time interval.

Aging (r) the irreversible change of material properties during exposure to a deteriorating environment for a specified time interval.

Aliphatic straight-chain hydrocarbons. Three sub-groups are alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes.

Alloy (r) a unique composition of two or more polymers that has one or more of the polymers treated or processed in a special way to confer enhanced performance characteristics on the resulting material.

Alpha particle a positively charged particle consisting of two protons and two neutrons.

Amorphous materials with no definite arrangement of atoms.

Ampere or Amp a unit of current—the rate at which electrons move past a reference point.

Angstrom (Å) a unit of length, an angstrom is one ten-thousandth of a micron (10-4 µm) or 100,000,000 Å=1 cm.

Anisotropic (sc) an etch process that exhibits little or no undercutting.

Anneal (sc) a high-temperature processing step, designed to minimize stress in the crystal structure of the wafer.

Anticoagulant (r) a substance added to field latex to retard bacterial action which would otherwise cause rapid coagulation of the latex.

Antidegradant (r) a compounding material used to retard deterioration caused by oxidation, ozone, light and combinations of these.

Anti-extrusion ring (r) a thin ring installed on the lowpressure side of a seal to prevent elastomer extrusion into the clearance gap.

Antiflex cracking agent (r) a compounding material used to retard cracking caused by cyclic deformations.

Antioxidant (r) compounding material used to retard deterioration caused by oxidation.

Antiozonant (r) compounding material used to retard deterioration caused by ozone.

Antistatic agent (r) a material which reduces the tendency for accumulation of electric charge on the surface of an article.

Aromatic oil a hydrocarbon process oil containing at least 35%, by mass, of aromatic hydrocarbons.

Ash (r) the residue from incineration of a material under specified conditions.

Ashing (sc) the process of removing photoresist with oxygen plasma.

Atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) (sc) a method for depositing layers at atmospheric pressure.

Attenuation a reduction in intensity of energy traveling through a medium or space.

Autoclave (r) a vessel used for vulcanizing rubber compounds by means of steam pressure.