Our company was founded upon the development of a unique low-pressure press for compression molding rubber (say that five times fast) and, since then, our services have expanded to include custom rubber molding and plastic capabilities that provide our customers with high-precision, close-tolerance rubber and plastic molding applications.
Over the last 60 years, we’ve become a top manufacturer and supplier for rubber molding products and plastic offerings for medical devices, aerospace applications, and hydraulic supplies.
Proudly, our rubber and plastic capabilities are vast, giving you and your company a myriad of options for a multitude of products or projects. Our rubber offerings include compression molding, transfer molding, injection molding, micro-molding, and overmolding. Our plastic capabilities include injection molding, micro-molding, two-shot molding, and overmolding. To complete all these services for our customers across the world, we use a variety of materials.
Rubber Types and Options for Custom Molded Rubber Parts
From fluorosilicone rubber to styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), there are more than 22 types of rubber material to allow us to meet every specification of your project. As one of the premier rubber product manufacturers, our team has perfected custom compounding to satisfy your specific requirements. Some examples are given below.
Conductive rubber: Most rubber types can be compounded to be some level of conductivity for highly conductive to ESD (Electro Static Discharge) and antistatic compounds. Some current applications for conductive rubber include IC chip manufacturing and handling, aerospace, automotive, and aviation. Conductive fluorosilicones are available where fuels and oils require fluid resistance. ESD FKM (Fluorocarbon) compounds are available for extreme high temperature handling of IC components.
Medical grade silicone: This rubber type of material is available in compression, transfer and injection molded version. One option for high volume medical components, is to use injection molding using Liquid Silicone Platinum systems. These materials have properties that demonstrate superior compatibility with human and animal tissue and body fluids. Medical grade silicone is soft and pliable and can withstand extreme temperatures, so it’s ideal for contact with human skin in sterile environments. Whether your company needs large quantities or single-use applications, this material is one of our most cost-effective.
Liquid silicone rubber: Our proprietary liquid injection molding process uses liquid silicone rubber to produce medium-to-high volume parts more economically and efficiently than other rubber molding processes. Used for components ranging from gas diaphragms to medical device valves, this material is pre-mixed in a closed system, which prevents contamination, and produces less excess scrap than other processes. Liquid silicone rubber is resistant to water, heat, UV, ozone, and is a good fit for medical solutions.
Ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber: A general purpose type of elastomer that is resistant to animal and vegetable oils, Ozone, Sunlight, Oxidizing chemicals and gasses. EPDM rubber is often used for weather seals, gasket seals, and to reduce or prevent noise in the automotive industry. Able to withstand temperatures ranging from -50° to 302°, sealing environments that aren’t exposed to oils, gasoline, kerosene, halogenated solvents, and concentrated acids will benefit from this material type.
Nitrile rubber: Our team of chemists create oil resistant nitrile rubber by compounding available copolymer of acrylonitrile and butadiene. Higher amounts of acrylonitrile in the polymer create a higher resistance to oils, but lowers the low temperature flexibility of the end product. As with natural rubber, nitrile rubber can be attacked by ozone, ketones, esters, and aldehydes, but it’s generally resistant to many hydrocarbons, oils, greases, fats, and hydraulic fluids. This material has been used and is ideal for seals, grommets, gaskets, and nitrile o-rings and gas control industry.
Neoprene rubber: A brand name developed by DuPont Performance Elastomers, neoprene rubber is a general purpose oil-resistant based on polychloroprene. Neoprene rubber is resistant to ozone and other weather elements, has good physical and tear resistance and resists damage caused by flexing and twisting. Because of these beneficial properties, Neoprene rubber is used for rubber gaskets and grommets that endure harsh chemicals and weather, like those in the oil and gas industry and the aerospace and electronic industries.
PLASTIC
Our plastic offerings include two main material categories: high temperature engineer plastics and thermoplastic elastomers.
High temperature plastics: This type of plastic offers stable physical properties and dimensional stability that are ideal for electrical applications that can reach up to 769 degrees. Most plastics can’t withstand harsh chemicals, but high temperature plastics provide more chemical resistance than the average plastic material. We can create parts with high temperature plastics in a variety of colors that can assist with flame retardancy, conductivity, and structural reinforcement.
Thermoplastic elastomers: A large volume of consumer products, like shampoo bottles, kitchen utensils and electronic components are created from thermoplastic elastomers. Though this list isn’t comprehensive, our thermoplastic elastomer material offerings include: acetal, acrylic, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon and glass-filled nylon, polyether ether ketone (PEEK), polystyrene, and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). Thermoplastic elastomers have replaced some rubber parts, like those used for pen grips, surgical instruments, and multiple color capability tools, because they tend to be more cost effective than other methods. Still, rubber continues to be a viable material since it is resistant compression set to chemicals and can withstand extreme high or low temperatures.
CLEANROOM
To manufacture your customized components, we work in our class 10,000 cleanroom, which includes HEPA filtration, room pressure monitoring, airflow monitoring, and continuous measurement and control of temperature and humidity. Within the cleanroom, we perform custom compounding, molding, washing, quality inspection of every part, sub-assembly, and speciality packaging. Despite the wide range of products we create and distribute from our cleanroom, we utilize carefully selected materials, air filters, and architectural design to maintain extremely low levels of dust and microbes that can interfere with production, quality and consistency if left uncontrolled.
Whether you need parts for kitchen utensils or aviation applications, we can develop custom organic or silicone compounds to satisfy your exact requirements. To view the full list of the components we design and manufacture, you can use our material finder on our website. Our material finder tool can show you speciality elastomers and general oil-resistant and non-oil resistant compounds. You’ll also be able to learn more about the operating temperature, hardness range, and application for each material.
Get in touch with us today! We can help you identify your needs and share with you the precise materials we’ll use to create your custom molded rubber or plastic parts.
