What is TPE
Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) is usually an elastic material with a low elastic modulus. It can be repeatedly stretched to more than twice its original length at room temperature, and has the ability to almost completely recover to its original length after stress is relieved. The early material with this characteristic was thermoset rubber, but many injection moldable thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) series are replacing traditional rubber. In addition to being used in their basic form, TPE is also widely used for the modification of rigid thermoplastics, usually to improve impact strength. This is quite common for sheets and general molding grade composite materials.
Thermoplastic elastomer TPE is a kind of rubber with high elasticity, high strength, high resilience, but also has the characteristics of injection molding. It is environmentally friendly, non-toxic and safe, has a wide range of hardness, has excellent colorability, soft touch, and weather resistance. Fatigue resistance and temperature resistance, superior processing performance, no need for vulcanization, can be recycled to reduce costs, it can be two-shot injection molding, coated with PP, PE, PC, PS, ABS and other matrix materials, or it can be molded separately .
Thermoplastic elastomer has both the processing properties of thermoplastics and the physical properties of vulcanized rubber. It can be described as a combination of advantages of plastics and rubber. Thermoplastic elastomers are occupying the territory originally belonged only to vulcanized rubber. In the past ten years, the rapid development of the electronics, communications and automobile industries has driven the rapid development of the thermoplastic elastomer market.
Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) has the physical and mechanical properties of vulcanized rubber and the processing properties of thermoplastics. Since there is no need to go through thermal vulcanization, the product can be produced by using general-purpose plastic processing equipment. This feature shortens the production process of the rubber industry by 1/4, saves energy consumption by 25% to 40%, and increases efficiency by 10 to 20 times. It can be called another revolution in materials and technology in the rubber industry.
Types of TPE
As of 1996, the six main TPEs can be divided into two categories: block copolymers (styrene resins, copolyesters, polyurethanes and polyamides), and thermoplastic elastomer blends and alloys (thermoplastic polyolefins). And thermoplastic vulcanizate).
In addition to these TPEs, two new technologies have emerged. They are polyolefin plastomers and elastomers synthesized by metallocene catalysis, and thermoplastic polyolefin elastomers formed by reaction.
Traditional TPE is a so-called two-phase system. Essentially, a phase composed of a hard thermoplastic is mechanically or chemically combined with another phase composed of a soft elastomer, and the resulting TPE has the property of combining the two phases.
Advantages of TPE
1. It can be processed by general thermoplastic molding machine without special processing equipment.
2. The production efficiency is greatly improved. It can be vulcanized directly with a rubber injection molding machine, and the time is shortened from about 20 minutes to less than 1 minute; because the vulcanization time required is very short, it can be directly vulcanized with an extruder, and the production efficiency is greatly improved.
3. Easy to recycle and reduce costs. The waste produced during the production process (escape burrs, extrusion of waste rubber) and the final waste can be directly returned for reuse; the used TPE can be recycled after simple regeneration, reducing environmental pollution and expanding the source of renewable resources.
4. Energy saving. Most thermoplastic elastomers do not require vulcanization or have a short vulcanization time, which can effectively save energy. Take the energy consumption of high-pressure hose production as an example: rubber is 188MJ/kg and TPE is 144MJ/kg, which can save energy by more than 25%.
5. A wider range of applications. Because TPE has the advantages of both rubber and plastic, it has opened up new application areas for the rubber industry.
6. It can be used to enhance and toughen plastics. The self-reinforcing property is large, the formula is simplified, the influence of the compounding agent on the polymer is small, and the quality performance is easier to grasp. However, the heat resistance of TPE is not as good as that of rubber, and its physical properties decrease greatly as the temperature rises, so the scope of application is limited. At the same time, the compression deformation, elastic recovery, and durability are inferior to rubber, and the price is often higher than that of similar rubber. Nevertheless, the advantages of TPE are still outstanding, and various new TPE products have been continuously developed. As a new type of energy-saving and environmentally friendly rubber raw material, it has a very promising development prospect.
