"We actually test the material, the components of it, and we use our expertise and knowledge to help a customer do material characterization of compounds—from ISO requirements to ASTM requirements," Djuricic said. "Ultimately, the analytics that we give back to a customer is through a report that breaks down formulas, acrylics, nitriles and volatiles."
Customers might come knocking with ARDL for answers to a sustainability challenge or a performance or regulatory hurdle. ARDL maintains more than 30,000 rubber compound recipes in its library.
"Is this good enough for the application I am using it for? If the answer is 'yes,' we reverse-engineer it, do our formulations and it's a one-stop shop—from development through to the end for an equal or better product. Here is the application, here are the properties," Djuricic said.
The move to Barberton is part of the company's overall efforts to gather its services under one roof.
While the Gilchrist Road headquarters houses ARDL's physical, chemical and plastics testing abilities, Barberton contains ARDL's engineering testing, weathering and microbiology services, as well as the company's compounding, mixing, molding, extrusion and prototyping capabilities.
ARDL's labs can conduct calendering, compound and process development, mixing, curing, molding, processability testing and many other services with its equipment, which includes an instrumented Banbury lab mixer; two MonTech MDR and ODR rheometers; a MonTech Mooney viscometer; a 4-roll inverted-L calender "capable of skim-coating fabric and calendering rubber or plastic sheets"; compression molding presses; a transfer molding press; hand press; curing ovens; freezers; steam cure autoclaves; rubber cutter; and chemical inventory.
"Having everyone in one location improves efficiency, communication and collaboration among our technical experts," Meser said. "We have seen improvements in those areas already with the consolidation from three facilities to two. We are really excited for the day when all of our employees are working together at Barberton."
Meser noted that it is ARDL's technical expertise that sets the company apart.
"Testing and generating data is only the first step," he said. "Understanding that data, how it affects other properties and what the next steps are in solving clients' problems truly makes us unique.
"Our experts have worked on everything from dog chew toys to rocket booster seals to implantable medical devices. If one of our experts hasn't worked on something, all they have to do is walk down the hall and talk to someone else who most likely has."
Like most other businesses on the planet, ARDL did not have a lot of experience with global pandemics. The company certainly witnessed an increase in the medical and personal protective equipment it tested, Meser said.
And ARDL continues to see its share of supply chain implications as freight costs soar in combination with nightmarish port problems.
"The supply chain disruptions associated with the pandemic have caused clients to reformulate in some cases, as one or another ingredient becomes difficult or impossible to obtain," Meser said. "We are always glad to help solve these problems."
In-person conferences were absent for a year or more during the pandemic, and for that change—at least for a few days in Pittsburgh—Djuricic said he was thankful.
"It is wonderful seeing everybody again," Djuricic said during the ACS Rubber Division's IEC. "They have done a nice job here in getting it to where we feel safe. It may not be the busiest we have ever seen, but the ones who want to be here are here—and they are looking to make some decisions, exchange ideas.
"People keep their proprietary things where they are, but they are looking to the future of the industry as a whole."
And for ARDL's customers, making those product decisions just got easier.
"We tap into just about any type of industry—pretty much anything you can think of for rubber materials," Meser said. "It is development through tensile tests, physical testing, testing the hardness of materials. If the part is small enough, we will do the part itself.
"This helps us to accurately and precisely develop materials for the industry. There are a lot of legacy parts out there."
Sustainability a factor now
A major part of ARDL's new business efforts have centered on sustainability, especially as customers attempt to meet regulatory requirements and employ circular economies.
"You look at aerospace, for example, in fuel systems—these new materials coming in have to be proved out," Meser said. "Seals and other parts have to be completely retested for swell and other performance characteristics."
And there literally are decades of research and development efforts coming home to roost.
"Sustainable fuels, components that come into contact with these new fuels, all of these types of parts will be coming to us to test. It has literally been a 20-year plan in some areas," Meser said.
And customers, like ARDL with its development continuum, are looking to close the loop.
"Customers are interested in that environmentally friendly part," Djuricic said. "The train already has left the station there. You have to think in terms of the future, in terms of fuel and alternative energy.
"And when people can't get certain materials, ARDL is here to help engineer them."
