HEXPOL TPE GMBH

The Mediprene 500M range of TPEs for medical applications includes several transparent grades. These compounds were developed in response to an increasing interest in transparent compounds from the medical market. Mediprene TPE materials are PVC, silicone and latex free, making them allergen free and a viable alternative to PVC based compounds. They offer hardnesses from 30 to 90 Shore A, allowing a wide degree of design freedom. Special Features Good transparency PVC, silicone and latex free Soft-touch appeal 30 to 90 Shore A Coloured, transparent grades Production site accredited to ISO 13485 Sterilizable with gamma, ethylene oxide (EtO) and steam Flexibility over broad temperature range Excellent sealing and adhesion Applications The ability to clearly see through a product to monitor the patient is an important feature for many medical devices such as face masks. Transparent TPEs can also be used in tubing and dental applications. Coloured & transparent In medical devices

In the extrusion process the TPE pellets are poured into a hopper are heated in the barrel and turned into a melt by this heat and shear. A screw carries the melted plastic through a shaped die to produce continuous lengths of shapes with the same profile, which are then cooled by air or water. Our TPE compounds are easily extruded into single and complex profiles. They can also be co-extruded with other materials to yield a part with both rigid and soft components. They exhibit improved profile flexibility. The SEBS compounds, with their saturated intermediate blocks, are very stable against thermal degradation. On the other hand, the SBS compounds degrade if overheated or if a screw with excessively high compression ratio is used. The information below is intended as a general overview, settings may vary depending on the specific grade selected. Please CONTACT US for detailed processing information SEBS based materials Equipment Extruders used for polyolefines are best for TPE comp

In the injection moulding process TPE pellets are fed into the machine through a hopper and then into a heated barrel. The heat from the barrel turns the material into a liquid resin which is then injected into a closed mould under high pressure. After allowing the molten polymer to cool, the finished part can be removed from the mould. Injection moulding is a high-volume, high tooling cost process, the advanced properties of our TPE compounds deliver short cycle times allowing parts to be produced at a rapid rate. The information below is intended as a general overview, settings may vary depending on the specific grade selected. Please CONTACT US for detailed processing information Settings Equipment Conventional injection moulding machine Compression set At least 2:1. Special screws with short sections and higher compression ratios (3:1 to 4:1) may be good at low screw speeds Shrinkage Between 1.0% and 2.5% depending on the grade, type of application and location of the gate. Moul

Thermoplastic elastomers are bonded to engineering plastics by melt adhesion to the most widely used structural plastics. Since the materials are bonded together at the production stage, no separate adhesive is needed, which makes the process faster and more cost effective than if the two parts were assembled together after each had been produced separately. There are two main processing procedures used to achieve bonding, overmoulding and co-extrusion. When overmoulding with soft components, the surface of the hard component softens and a diffusion of the molecules in the outer layer takes place. A prerequisite for this is that the two materials, i.e. the TPE Compound and the engineering plastic, must be compatible with one another, meaning that they must not reject one another’s molecules. As the molecule mobility increases, the molecules of the two materials will diffuse and this gives rise to so called melt adhesion. The molecules of the two materials form a network at the surfac