Cologne, Germany – Lanxess has launched a new Vibrathane prepolymer for hot-cast elastomers with Shore A Hardness between 83 and 87 A.
New Vibrathane grade for cast applications
Cast polyurethane tyres on casters
The new material is designated Vibrathane 7085. It is an MDI tipped molecule that can be cured with 1,4-butane diol. It can be used to make materials with low compression set and high cut/crack propagation resistance.
Nitin Sharma, of Lanxess' research, innovation and development centre said that these materials could be used for stamping mats and stencils, mining grids and caster tyres.
The material can produce cast elastomers with compression set between 13 and 42% according to ASTM D395 after testing for 22 hours at 70°C. Lanxess said this can depend on processing conditions. Tear strength according to ASTM D1938 is between 27.2 and 87.9 kN/m.
Sharma said that tear strength is up to three times higher compared to standard polyurethane elastomers of similar hardness.
Cast elastomers produced with the additive and subjected to fatigue tests such as ASTM D3629-99 at 11, 18, 35 and 45% deformations yield Tex Flex values above 170,000 cycles.
Pot life can range between 90 s to 5 minutes depending on the formulation, said Sharma.
