polyurethane vs. rubber
The chief advantage of castable polyurethanes over rubber is it’s much superior abrasion resistance. The combination of a high tear resistance and a high modulus gives polyurethanes this advantage. Other advantages would include ozone resistance and a higher durometer range.
Castable polyurethanes can also be pigmented with a variety of colors. This gives the end user the advantage of color coding or possibly matching the companies logo.
One of the nicest advantages of polyurethanes over rubber from the processing end is the fact that polyurethanes can be poured instead of compression molded. This eliminates the need for heavy equipment such as presses and large steel molds.
- high abrasion resistance
- high cut, tear resistance
- superior load bearing
- clarity/translucence
- colorability
- oil resistance
- ozone resistance
- radiation resistance
- broader hardness/durometer range
- castable nature
- low pressure inexpensive tooling
polyurethane vs. metal
Most metals are much heavier than polyurethanes. This makes urethanes much easier to handle and more cost effective to operate equipment. Noise levels are minimized since polyurethanes have a tendency to absorb sound.
Polyurethanes can outwear metals in many places where metal is traditionally used, especially where parts are subject to abrasive materials. Their resistance to corrosion makes them an ideal replacement for metals as well.
Probably the biggest advantage polyurethanes have over metals is that they can be manufactured much fairly inexpensively. Comparatively casting metal parts is more expensive than casting polyurethanes. Welding and machining of metal parts are also time consuming and expensive.
- lightweight
- noise reduction
- abrasion resistance
- less expensive fabrication
- corrosion resistance
- resilience
- impact resistance
- flexibility
- easily moldable
- non-conductive
- non-sparking
polyurethane vs. plastic
As with the previous materials mentioned the chief advantage of polyurethanes over plastics is abrasion resistance. This is due to the fact that polyurethanes have the elastomeric properties that plastics lack. This leads to another advantage of urethanes over plastics; elastomeric memory. Polyurethanes will, in most cases, return to their original shape when they have been stretched. This brings us to another advantage. Since polyurethanes are elastomeric they are brittle not plastics. Even in the higher durometer ranges polyurethanes remain elastomeric.
- high impact resistance
- elastic memory
- abrasion resistance
- noise reduction
- variable coefficient of friction
- resilience
- thick section molding
- lower cost tooling
- low temperature resistance
- cold flow resistance
- radiation resistance