Bonding Thermoplastic rubber to metal
Bonding Thermoplastic rubber to metal
(OP)
Hi,
Is it possible to bond polyethylene based thermoplastic rubber to steel while overmoulding using injection moulding?
Is it possible to bond polyethylene based thermoplastic rubber to steel while overmoulding using injection moulding?





RE: Bonding Thermoplastic rubber to metal
The main problem is that PE is very non-polar and therefore will not interact with steel or other high energy surfaces. If your PE based elastomer is an ionomer (e.g. Surlyn or Iotek) then you have a chance because these contain ionic groups that should improve the bonding to metal. If your PE elastomer is not an ionomer then I would suggest you add something to improve the bonding. Things you could add to improve things are polymers compatible with PE but with some polar groups:
1. Ionomer e.g. Surlyn or Iotek
2. Polyethylenevinylacetate (EVA)
3. Polyethylene-co-acrylic acid (e.g. Polybond and others)
These would be added at 10 weight % as a first try.
RE: Bonding Thermoplastic rubber to metal
Something as simple as holes through the steel part would be fine as long as you have room for features in the rubber that would prevent it from pulling back through the holes. This does nothing to address the issues with bonding, but it may work for your application. You'll obviously have to make that call.