MIL-HDBK-695 Rubber Products: Recommended Shelf LifeThis handbook provides guidance for establishing time periods for the expected life of elastomeric products during shelf storage. The use of the expected shelf storage lives listed herein is NOT MADE MANDATORY by this handbook. This handbook is for guidance only and cannot be cited as a requirement. The decision as to whether or not a product will have a limit placed upon the time that it may remain in storage is a function of the agency responsible for the products ultimate use.

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MIL-HDBK-695E

temperature prior to installation.  Optimum installation temperatures may vary based on the end use or application of the product.

4.3.2.2  Humidity.  Rubber end products should be stored in an atmosphere of less than 75 percent relative humidity.  Extra care should be taken when storing polyurethane rubbers as they are more susceptible to degradation through exposure to humidity.

4.3.2.3  Ozone.  Minimize exposure to ozone, since ozone can degrade some unprotected rubber products.  This is especially pertinent when products are stored in a manufacturing environment, as equipment that uses high voltage sources or emits combustion products generates precursors to ozone formation.

4.3.2.4  Light.  Rubber products should not be stored in direct sunlight or ultraviolet light.

4.3.2.5  Stock rotation.  In general, stock of rubber end products should be issued based on their shelf life expiration date.  Use of a first-in, first-out (FIFO) principle based on cure date may aid in this process.

4.4  Documents.   The documents listed in Table II, Table III, and Table IV list only the documents which had procurements within 10 years of the date of this handbook.  Tables III and IV do not list specific shelf life dates because the specific rubber types are not defined in the document.  The shelf life values listed in Table II were determined based upon the optimum storage conditions and the type of rubber commonly used or required by the document.

4.4.1  Cancelled documents.  Since shelf life items have been procured to cancelled documents and they are actively stocked, there is a need to list these documents in this handbook along with their corresponding shelf life.

4.4.2  Supersession.  In order to determine the proper shelf life of an item when referring to documents, the characteristics of the end item procured must be known.  If a document has been superseded and is specified on the contract, then a determination must be made on which document the delivered item meets (i.e., does the delivered item meet the cancelled document or the superseding document?).

4.4.3  Superseding documents.  The parenthetical documents (superseding documents) listed after the document title in Tables II, III, and IV are not listed solely for the purpose of supersession.  A parenthetical document is listed with the cancelled document only if it has been procured.  If the superseding document has been procured then it appears in the corresponding table under its own document identifier.  If the superseding document had no procurement in 10 years then it is not listed with the cancelled document nor is it listed under its own document identifier.

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