There has been many discussions on other forums about what to use to clean c hains, how it affects o-rings and other nonsense so one day I thought I would do a simple test to see what happens.
The effect of chain cleaning chemicals on o-ring type chains
03/04/2008
I had a used chain that I was practising on with some good condition o-rings on them. I put one into a jar and labelled each jar with the chemical that the o-ring was to be subjected to:
control jar (no chemical)
Mountain bike chain degreaser
Spray can degreaser (external engine cleaning)
Methylated spirits
I had run out of kerosene at the time, so I had to do that later:
25/04/2008
kerosene jar added to the experiment
Leave it sitting for a few months, totally forget about the collection of baby food jars and them remember to get around to having a look at them.
30/07/2008
The o-rings in all the chemicals appear to be of the same shape and size, no apparent changes.
The degreaser appears to have undergone the most reaction, having changed to a discoloured yellow-brown colour with small particulates suspended in the liquid.
The kerosene and mountain bike degreaser has some small suspended particles in it, but that appears to be the grease having been emulsified and separated off the o-ring.
Methylated spirits shows no particulates.
Control looks the same.
My next step is to take out the o-ring and check the physical properties.
Initial thoughts.... the chemicals have no outward effect on the o-rings, although I think all of them would be able to emulsify any grease held in by the o-ring, driving it out of where it should be. How you can test this I have no ideas.