Rubber has been useful since the dawn of civilization. Natural rubber can be obtained from some plants and has been taken advantage of by humans in every possible way. Today, rubber is a common object seen in many places, such as a typical household garage, industrial factories, and construction sites. The largest consumers of rubber are tires and tubes. In fact, they account for more than 50 percent of the total consumption of rubber.
Aside from aluminum and plastic, rubber is also a very common material for extrusions. Rubber extrusions provide people with some of the most useful items that we can use in various fields, including lighting, electronics, appliance, construction, medicine, and aerospace technology. Rubber extrusions can be used anywhere. As flexible as it is, rubber is a very versatile product.
In the automotive industry, most rubber extrusions can be found “under the hood.” Other common extrusions are rubber grommets, pads, bumpers, bushings, bellow, hoses, seals, and window profiles. Other than these usual items, several manufacturers also accept orders for custom extruded profiles.
So what happens to the rubber when it is being extruded? During the extrusion process, the raw material is processed through an extruder, which consists of two major components: a heated drum and a die. As it enters the drum, it is softened by heat and pressurized through a screw rotation. The pressure forces the rubber through a die. The rubber emerges from the machine in a profile similar to the shape of the die. The material is then cured using several procedures that include autoclave, convection, salt bath, hot air, mandrel, and microwave.
Because there are many types of rubber materials available for extrusion, you have to choose the best and the most appropriate material based on how you are going to use the product and the environment in which it will be used. Your options include neoprene, santoprene, silicone, nitrile, butyl, timperene, hypalon, and natural rubber. When deciding what material to use, you have to know the important properties of each such as hardness, flexibility, weight, tensile strength, and many others.