One Rubber Material, Two Inserts
The parts pictured here, used in the oil and gas industry, have two different metal inserts (the black annodized aluminum insert on the OD and a brass insert on the ID), both bonded to the same Hypalon® or CSE, CSM rubber. In this particular case, the adhesive used on both inserts is the same, but in some cases, the heat-activated adhesive could be different if the substrate materials were different enough.
Custom Rubber Corp. has developed an expert partner to apply and insure the correct thickness coating of the heat-activated adhesive. After the metal components are painted, they are carefully wrapped to insure that none of the adhesive comes off in transit thru parts bumping or rubbing against eachother.
Once received and ready to mold, Custom Rubber Corp. uses carefully controlled lab ovens to pre-heat the inserts to a temperature that's close to the activation temperature for the adhesive. This allows a faster cycle time which translates into better pricing for our customer.
Bonding rubber to metal may look easy, but there are some important tricks and steps that can be taken to insure perfect parts every time. This is critical, especially when every bad part is expensive - not just the rubber and molding labor, but all the material and labor involved in making the metal inserts and applying the adhesive. Custom Rubber Corp.'s plant-wide scrap is less than 2% so these are managable problems for our customers.
The molded rubber parts pictured are not in stock or for sale. These are examples of custom-manufactured products that illustrate Custom Rubber Corp.'s capabilities.