The development of thermoplastic elastomers, TPEs, can be confidently called a material revolution, which has enabled the success of a multitude of products from diverse industries in recent years. What is the reason for this? To express it crudely, it can be said that thermoplastic elastomers are positioned between plastic (thermoplastics) and rubber (elastomers) in terms of structure and behaviour. The fact that TPEs combine the positive characteristics of thermoplastics on the one hand and elastomers on the other is now of advantage to both product developers and designers and to processors.
To express this another way: Like thermoplastics, TPEs become plastic due to the application of heat, and reveal elastic behaviour again on cooling. In contrast to the chemical cross-linking which occurs in elastomers, TPE involves purely physical cross-linking, which can be reversed via the further application of heat.
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