What type of plastic is tpe

Silicone and synthetic rubber such as latex and ethylene propylene diene monomer or EPDM are thermosets. Thermoplastic elastomers are thermoplastics with an elastomeric component that makes them soft and flexible. Although they can have a rubbery feel and are sometimes called thermoplastic rubber, they are not made out of rubber.

Unlike thermoset rubbers, these plastic compounds can be recycled. Thermoplastic elastomers can be formed into parts in the same way that other thermoplastics can be, so a "soft" TPE can be molded or extruded onto a "hard" thermoplastic in one process. This "co-molding" or "overmolding" creates design freedom that is not possible with thermoset rubbers. In addition, processing is much more efficient. For example, a thermoset part might take three minutes to mold, while a thermoplastic elastomer may take only 30 seconds.

For example, polypropylene is made by connecting propylene monomers. TPEs contain more than one type of polymer--an elastomer that gives the material its elastic or soft properties and another polymer that gives it strength. Styrene-butadiene-styrene SBS is a common type. A related polymer is styrene-ethylene butylene-styrene SEBS , which is more resistant to oxidation and outdoor weathering. TPOs have many uses, including automotive parts and for wire and cable insulation.

Thermoplastic elastomer vulcanizate TPV or TPE-V compounds are "vulcanized" or crosslinked, which gives them improved properties such as high compression set and resistance to heat deformation. Response to compression is important for sealing and gasket applications. Compressive stress relaxation — the ability of a material to continue to push back against a compressive load over a period of time. Compression set is reported as a percent of compression that is not recovered, stress relaxation as either a percent or absolute level of initial force that is no longer present.

Peel Strength. Peel strength is one measure of how well a TPE has bonded to a rigid substrate. While there is no agreed upon standard test for TPEs, the various methods employed by TPE suppliers are derived from accepted thermoset rubber and adhesive test methods. This test entails pulling apart a T-bar that was over-molded via an insert molding process.

The units of measure for this test are pli; RTP Company has a minimum standard of 15 pli for its bonding grades. Cohesive Bond Failure. This failure mode indicates that either the TPE or the plastic substrate failed before the bond between the two materials did. Very often the TPE material tears. This type of failure is not always a bad property indication if the material has high tear strength.

It can in fact indicate very high bond strength. Adhesive Failure. This failure mode occurs at the interface of the TPE and the rigid material. Most bond failures are some combination of both adhesive and cohesive failures. For medical applications, special compounds that meet the strict requirements in this sector have been developed.

These applications include drip chambers, seals and medical tubing. TPV: Thermoplastic elastomer of thermoplastic and vulcanized elastomers e. The TPE is created immediately in the polymerization process. The well-known reactor-made TPEs are obtained by copolymerization of at least two monomers, which are block polymerized.

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Your Message has been sent successfully. Your confirmation was successfull. Thank you for registering. We are looking forward to welcome you at K A key indicator is their softness or hardness value as measured on the Shore durometer scale. Like crosslinked rubber, TPEs are available as very soft gel materials from 20 Shore OO up to 90 Shore A, at which point they enter the Shore D scale and can be formulated to give hardness values up to 85 Shore D, which designates a material that is very hard.

Designers increasingly use TPEs due to the significant cost savings possible because their ability to be processed on plastics machinery. Conventional rubber, whether natural or synthetic, is a thermosetting material that must undergo a chemical cross-linking reaction during moulding or extrusion, typically called curing or vulcanization. Due to this reaction it is not generally processable in standard thermoplastic equipment. The time that it takes for the vulcanization reaction to complete is influenced by many factors, however it is typical that this is somewhere between 1 minutes and several hours.

The thermoplastic moulding and extrusion processes used for TPEs, on the other hand, avoid the cross-linking step and can achieve very fast cycles times, which can be as little as 20 seconds. Environmental an cost pressures require more and more materials to be recycleable, TPE processing scrap, reject parts or end of life products can be easily reprocessed, whereas most thermosetting elastomers end up as land fill.

Additional advantages over thermoset rubber provided by TPEs include excellent colourability and a lower density. These are supplied under six trade names that represent different technologies, including di- and tri-block hydrogenated styrene block copolymers Tekron, Elexar, and Monprene , thermoplastic polyolefin blends Telcar , thermoplastic vulcanizates Uniprene , and over-molding compositions designed to bond to diverse polar substrates Tekbond.

TPEs are a unique class of engineering materials combining the look, feel and elasticity of conventional thermoset rubber with the processing efficiency of plastics. The melt-processability of TPEs makes them very suitable for high-volume injection moulding and extrusion. They can also be reclaimed and recycled. As elastomers, TPEs exhibit high elasticity.