Thermoplastic elastomer TPE/TPR, also known as artificial rubber or synthetic rubber. Its products have the excellent properties of high elasticity, aging resistance and oil resistance of traditional cross-linked vulcanized rubber, and at the same time have the characteristics of convenient processing and wide processing methods of ordinary plastics. It can be produced by injection molding, extrusion, blow molding and other processing methods, and 100% of the edges and corners of the water outlet can be directly reused after being crushed. It not only simplifies the processing process but also reduces the processing cost. Therefore, thermoplastic elastomer TPE/TPR material has become the latest material to replace traditional rubber. It is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, comfortable to the touch, and exquisite in appearance, making the product more creative. Therefore, it is also a more humane and high-grade new synthetic material, and a world-standard environmentally friendly material.
Main uses of thermoplastic elastomers
Thermoplastic elastomers are a new type of polymer material between rubber and resin. They can not only replace part of rubber, but also modify plastics. The dual properties of rubber and plastics and the wide range of characteristics of thermoplastic elastomers make them widely used in the rubber industry to manufacture daily products such as rubber shoes and rubber tapes, and various industrial products such as rubber hoses, tapes, rubber strips, rubber sheets, rubber parts, and adhesives. At the same time, thermoplastic elastomers can also replace rubber and be used in large quantities in the modification of general thermoplastic resins such as PVC, PE, PP, PS, and even engineering plastics such as PU, PA, and CA, which has brought a new situation to the plastics industry.
Types of Thermoplastic Elastomers
Thermoplastic elastomers can be summarized into two types: general-purpose TPE and engineering TPE. Currently, they have developed into 10 categories and more than 30 varieties. Since Bayer of Germany first discovered polyurethane TPE in 1938, Phillips and Shell of the United States developed styrene-butadiene-styrene block polymer TPE in 1963 and 1965, and since the United States, Europe and Japan began to mass-produce olefin TPE in the 1970s, technology has been continuously innovated, and new TPE varieties have continued to emerge, forming a huge system of TPE today, making the combination of rubber industry and plastic industry a big step forward. The industrially produced TPEs in the world include: styrene (SBS, SIS, SEBS, SEPS), olefins (TP0, TPV), dienes (TPB, TPI), vinyl chloride (TPVC, TCPE), urethane (TPU), esters (TPEE), amides (TPAE), organic fluorine (TPF), silicones and ethylenes, etc., covering almost all areas of synthetic rubber and synthetic resins.