Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer rubber. It is mainly divided into polyester and polyether types, with a wide range of hardness (60HA-85HD), wear resistance, oil resistance, transparency, and good elasticity. It is widely used in daily necessities, sports equipment, toys, decorative materials, and other fields. Halogen free flame-retardant TPU can also replace soft PVC to meet the environmental requirements of more and more fields.

The so-called elastomer refers to a polymer material with a glass transition temperature lower than the room temperature, a fracture elongation rate greater than 50%, and good recovery after external force removal. Polyurethane elastomers are a special category of elastomers, with a wide range of hardness and performance. Therefore, polyurethane elastomers are a type of polymer material that falls between rubber and plastic.

It can be heated and plasticized, with little or no cross-linking in its chemical structure. Its molecules are basically linear, but there is some physical cross-linking. This type of polyurethane is called TPU.

The main characteristics of TPU are:

Wide range of hardness: By changing the ratio of TPU reaction components, products with different hardness can be obtained, and as the hardness increases, the products still maintain good elasticity and wear resistance.

High mechanical strength: TPU products have outstanding load-bearing capacity, impact resistance, and shock absorption performance.

Outstanding cold resistance: TPU has a relatively low glass transition temperature and maintains good elasticity, flexibility, and other physical properties even at minus 35 degrees Celsius.

Good processing performance: TPU can be processed using common thermoplastic material processing methods, such as injection molding, extrusion, rolling, and so on. Meanwhile, TPU can be processed together with certain polymer materials to obtain polymer alloys with complementary properties.

1. Wear resistance performance

When materials are frequently subjected to mechanical effects such as friction, scraping, and grinding during use, it can cause gradual wear on their surface. Therefore, the selection of materials with wear resistance is very important. TPU plastic raw material has excellent wear resistance, more than five times more wear-resistant than natural rubber, and is one of the preferred materials for wear-resistant products.

2. Tensile performance

The tensile strength can reach up to 70MPa, and the elongation at break can reach up to 1000%.

3. Tear performance

The failure of an elastic material due to the expansion of cracks during application is called tearing, and tearing strength is the ability of the material to resist tearing; Generally speaking, TPU has high tear resistance, and its tear strength is very excellent compared to some commonly used rubber plastics.

4. Folding performance

Many plastic materials are prone to fracture under repeated cyclic stress, and TPU products can maintain excellent bending resistance in different environments, making them one of the best choices among polymer materials.

5. Hydrolysis resistance

TPU has good water resistance under turbid conditions and will not undergo significant hydrolysis within 1-2 years, especially in the polyether series. Polyester series will completely decompose when soaked in water at 50 ℃ for half a year, 70 ℃ for 3 weeks, or 100 ℃ for 3-4 days. This is one of the reasons why TPU is suitable as an environmentally friendly material. For products that require frequent contact with water, it is recommended to use polyether series.

6. High temperature resistance and antioxidant performance

General plastic materials are prone to oxidation in environments above 70 ℃ for a long time, while TPU has good antioxidant capacity; Generally speaking, TPU has a temperature resistance of up to 120 ℃.

7. Oil and drug resistance performance

TPU is a highly polar polymer material with little affinity for non-polar mineral oils, and is almost unaffected by corrosion in fuel oils (such as kerosene and gasoline) and mechanical oils (such as hydraulic oil, engine oil, lubricating oil, etc.); Among them, TPU products with polyester series have better oil resistance; TPU film and sheet have little change in volume of oil, and their tensile strength is even higher than the original initial value; It should be noted that if mineral oil contains a small amount of moisture, it will have varying degrees of negative effects on the physical properties of the film.

8. Low temperature performance

TPU has excellent low-temperature resistance, usually up to -50 ℃, and can replace various fields where PVC cannot be applied due to low-temperature brittleness. It is particularly suitable for use in products related to cold regions.

9. Air tightness

TPU is very easy to use high-frequency or hot pressing for welding, so it is widely used in inflatable products. The gas coefficient refers to the rate at which gas passes through a specified area of a sample at a certain temperature and pressure. The permeability of the same material to different gases can sometimes vary greatly. Generally speaking, polyester series products have better air tightness than polyether series products.

10. Biomedical performance

TPU has excellent biocompatibility, non toxicity, no allergic reactions, no local irritation, and no heat source, so it is widely used in medical, health and other related products, as well as sports and protective equipment