TPE is rubber plastic. TPE material, also known as thermoplastic elastomer, is a polymer material that combines plastic and rubber properties, displaying high elasticity of rubber at room temperature, and can be plasticized at high temperatures. The structural characteristic of thermoplastic elastomers is that they consist of different resin and rubber segments composed of chemical bonds. The resin segment forms physical cross-linking points through the inter chain force, while the rubber segment is a highly elastic chain segment that contributes to elasticity.
It is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and safe, with a wide range of hardness. It has excellent coloring properties, soft touch, weather resistance, fatigue resistance, and temperature resistance. Its processing performance is superior, and it does not require vulcanization. It can be recycled to reduce costs. It can be used for secondary injection molding, bonded with PP, PE, PC, PS, ABS and other base materials, or can be formed separately.
Thermoplastic elastomers have both the processing properties of thermoplastic plastics and the physical properties of vulcanized rubber, making them an advantageous combination of plastic and rubber advantages. Thermoplastic elastomers are aggressively occupying territories that originally belonged only to vulcanized rubber. In the past decade or so, the rapid development of the electronics, communication, and automotive industries has driven the rapid development of the thermoplastic elastomer market.