What rubber and plastic materials are used in car mats? TPV/TPE R&D engineers will tell you

It's hard for ordinary people to judge which rubber and plastic material is good, today Toughness Gothic will tell you which rubber and plastic materials are used for floor mats, their advantages and disadvantages.

1. Material PVC

PVC material, Chinese name "polyvinyl chloride", is most commonly used general purpose plastic. The advantage is low cost, and disadvantage is poor elasticity and strong odor. Especially in winter, it feels hard and surface is slippery, making it difficult to apply force.

There are two main types of PVC floor mats: ①Direct injection molding, usually transparent;

Transparent PVC car mat

PVC car mat

In my personal experience, a wire loop rug is not easy to clean, unless you are a particularly diligent person, it is not recommended to use it.

2. Material EVA

EVA material, there are not many car mats, usually it is foam molding, advantage is that cost is not high, quality is light, and disadvantage is that it has a little smell.

EVA car mat

3. Material TPE

TPE material is a thermoplastic elastomer. It is a relatively high quality floor mat material on market. The advantages are low odor, good elasticity and environmental protection. The disadvantage is that if car is frequently heated to high temperatures, it may give off a certain smell. Of course, high quality TPE materials will not.

Common molding processes include: ①Injection Molding, ②Blister Molding, ③Drip Molding very rarely replace PVC.

TPE Blister Forming Car Floor Mat

TPE Injection Molding Car Mat

4. Material TPV

TPV material is a type of thermoplastic rubber similar to TPE, but more resistant to aging, high and low temperatures than TPE, and has a high dry and wet slip index. Currently, most expensive car floor mats are usually selected from TPV material.

For molding process, TPV material usually uses a blister process. If an injection molding process is used, a high flow TPV material is required.

About difference between blister molding and injection molding:

①In terms of cost: cost of blistering is low and cost of injection molding is high;

②Regarding materials: blister materials can be used together, while injection molding can only use one material;

③ In terms of texture: injection molding is generally softer, and surface of blister molding is softer.

All 4 types of materials mentioned above are thermoplastic materials that can be recycled and reused, and national policies are more supportive of them. Especially TPE and TPV, as they are polyolefin elastomers, do not contain halogens and possible heavy metal stabilizers, so they are more popular than PVC in market, especially in Europe, America and Japan markets, generally TPV/TPE mats. .

5. Rubber material

Ethylene propylene rubber, latex, etc. are generally chosen. The advantages are relatively good strength and good elasticity. The disadvantages are a strong smell and environmental friendliness. At present, the market share is getting smaller and smaller.

Rubber car mat

In order to protect environment, floor mat manufacturers should replace traditional rubber with thermoplastic elastomers as often as possible! We, as our customers, should choose thermoplastic elastomer products as often as possible.

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