Storing parts to minimize corrosion

U-Line has many sizes of VCI tubing that can be used to custom make bags

I stumbled across Volatile Corrosion Inhibiting bags while looking for blue bags for my tree shelter project.   Some people like using VCI bags for storing springs and delicate mechanical pieces-parts.

Fundamentals of VCI...a cure for insomnia

For those who like to fiddle with things on their own, placing a pad dampened with a drying or semi-drying oil like linseed or soybean oil in a sealed plastic bag with the parts is an effective way to protect them from corrosion.  The vegetable oil scavenges the free oxygen.

The usual caveats about cleaning the parts and lubricating before storing them apply.

Source of table

Not surprisingly, different materials have different rates of oxygen permeability.

To save you some eyestrain:

• Natural rubber is ten times more permeable to oxygen than Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
• Low Density Polyethylene is seven times more permeable to oxygen than High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
• High Density Polyethylene is seven times more permeable to oxygen than unplasticized vinyl
• Vinyl is ten times more permeable to oxygen than Saran.

Flipped around and restated a different way....A Natural Rubber film will transmit almost 5000 times more oxygen as a Saran film of equal thickness.