Materials

The rubber raw material is obtained from rubber trees. Today, however, producers mainly use synthetic rubber. Not all rubber is the same. There are numerous products that the industry develops specifically for different areas of application. Chemists speak of elastomers or elastomer products. Although rubber is a commonly used term, it is somewhat imprecise. This often leads to misunderstandings in the retail trade. Customers often assume that latex refers to a product made from natural rubber. This is not always the case: latex is simply rubber in liquid form, says the German Rubber Industry Association. And rubber can be produced both naturally and synthetically.

Wool felt is a special type of felt. This felt is made from sheep's wool. It is called fulling or press felt. The wool is first cleaned and combed. It is then processed into fleece. If necessary, the raw wool may also have a dyeing process. The felt is then produced by mechanical fulling, which causes the raw material to become firmly bonded. The fibers of the fleece are randomly intertwined. Of all the animal wool products, sheep's wool is the one that works best with this felting process because it has a scale-like surface. During the fulling process, the tiny flakes of wool interlock with each other to form a strong surface for the fabric.

Polyoxymethylenes (abbreviation POM, also known as polyacetals) are thermoplastics with a high molecular weight. Used primarily for injection molding, these colorless, semi-crystalline polymers are used to make molded parts. Polyoxymethylenes are used for the production of precision parts. Their high stiffness, low coefficient of friction and good dimensional stability make them ideal for this application. An unbranched acetal group (~C-O-CH2-O-C~) is the characteristic structural element. The homopolymer produced from formaldehyde is known as POM-H and has the structure -(CH2-O-)n (oxymethylene groups). In addition to the -(CH2)m-O- units with 2 or 4 methylene groups, the copolymers (abbreviated as POM-C) have numerous acetal groups. They are used for thermal stabilization of the polymer. POM-C has properties similar to POM-H.

Polyurethanes (abbreviation PUR; also known as PU) are plastics or synthetic resins. They are formed by the polyaddition reaction of dialcohols (diols) or polyols with polyisocyanates. The urethane group is characteristic for polyurethanes.
Diols and diisocyanates lead to linear polyurethanes. Cross-linked polyurethanes can be produced by reacting triisocyanate-diisocyanate mixtures with triol-diol mixtures. The properties of PU can be varied over a wide range. Thermosets, thermoplastics or elastomers are obtained depending on the degree of crosslinking and/or the isocyanate or OH component used. In terms of quantity, polyurethane foams are the most important, as flexible or rigid foam. However, polyurethanes are also used as molding compounds for compression molding, as casting resins (isocyanate resins), as (textile) elastic fibers, polyurethane coatings and as polyurethane adhesives.