Estane TPU pellets

Lubrizol is an American company established in 1928. It specializes in providing specialty chemicals, ingredients and additives for various sectors, such as the transportation, industrial and consumer markets, as well as for the pharmaceutical, self care products, medical devices and plastics technology industries. For the latter industry, Lubrizol offers a wide variety of materials, and among them engineered TPU.

The Estane TPU pellets by Lubrizol are materials designed to address exigent needs in diverse applications, such as in the production of footwear, in industrial environments as well as in medical uses. In Lubrizol’s portfolio there are the Estane TPU pellets in three versions with varying hardness - Estane TPU F98A, Estane TPU F95A and Estane TPU F70D.

TPU stands for Thermoplastic Polyurethane and it was invented (for commercial use) by Lubrizol in 1959. It is a linear elastomer polymer from the polyurethane family with different hardness ranges. In FDM 3D printing, hardness is usually indicated by the Shore A or Shore D scales. The main characteristics of TPU are its flexible nature (varying with the Shore hardness), good tensile strength, as well as resistance to tears, abrasions and chemicals. TPU is often referred to as a bridge between plastic and rubber, since it possessed the properties of both.

Image 1: Parts 3D printed with the Lubrizol pellets from the TPU line. Source: Lubrizol.

Estane TPU F98A

The Estane TPU F98A pellets have a Shore hardness of 98A, a PCL (polycaprolactone) chemistry and translucency. Parts 3D printed with these pellets demonstrate flexibility and excellent mechanical resistance, as well as great impact, abrasion and chemical resistance. This material is also durable under heat aging conditions (tested up to 140 °C). The Estane F98A pellets offer excellent mechanical properties with low warpage and shrinkage, as well as consistent extrusion and ease of 3D printing. The Estane F98A pellets can be used for making filament or directly extruded to make jigs and fixtures as well as end use parts.

Estane TPU F95A

The TPU F95A pellets have a Shore hardness of 94A. This material’s distinguishing feature is that it’s composed of over 30% renewable-sourced bio-based content. It has an organic ester chemistry and therefore has a high sustainability. The Estane TPU 95A has a broad printing window, it provides improved flexibility to thin walls, high transparency and superior layer-to-layer bonding. This material has a wide range of applications in the footwear, electronics, automotive, medical, aerospace, industrial and consumer goods sectors.

Estane TPU F70D

The Estane TPU F70D has ether chemistry and is a TPU very flexible in lower temperatures (lower than - 40 ºC). This material also provides high transparency and UV stability, which makes it perfect for outdoor applications. Apart from that, the TPU F70D pellets are a great alternative to PETg or ABS for jigs and fixtures due to its strength and impact and abrasion resistance. This material is also easier to 3D print than ABS or nylon.

Example application

An example of the application of the Estane TPU pellets would be the VarioShore TPU filament developed by ColorFabb in collaboration with Lubrizol. VarioShore TPU is an ideal material for printing insoles thanks to its variable Shore hardness, flexibility, softness to the touch, and reduced weight and density. In this case, the superior qualities of TPU were boosted with the Lubrizol 3D Printing Solutions, in collaboration with VarioShore by using their foaming technology. The variable density/hardness of the VarioShore TPU is obtained by changing the printing temperature of the material.

The Lubrizol Estane TPU pellets are very versatile materials that can be the solution to many advanced industry requirements. They can be used directly as pellets or to fabricate filament for applications where flexibility together with other specialistic features are sought after.