Parts made of polyurethane will often outwear other materials such as rubber, plastics, metals by a margin of 5 to 50 times when severe abrasion is a factor. It has been proven to be vastly superior to rubber plastics and metal in many applications.
Polyurethane has excellent resistance to oils, solvents, fats, greases and gasoline.
Polyurethane has a higher load-bearing capacity than any conventional rubber. Because of this characteristic, it is an ideal material for load wheels, heavy duty couplings, metal-forming pads, shock pads, expansion joints and machine mounts.
Polyurethane has excellent tear resistance as compared to conventional rubber and plastics. As a result,Polyurethane is often used as drive belts, diaphragms, roll covers, cutting pads, gaskets and chute liners.
Polyurethane has outstanding resistance to oxygen, ozone, sunlight and general weather conditions.
As polyurethane has inherent property to retain the elasticity at higher hardness it has better impact resistance as compared to conventional materials like plastic, rubber and wood. This toughness makes polyurethane ideal for parts subject to high impact or repeated pounding.
The hard polyurethane grade are now being used as gears in products where engineers desire sound reduction. The soft polyurethane are used to replace rubbers for improved sound/vibration dampening.
Polyurethane has excellent elastic property that makes it possible to use polyurethane in variety of applications where thin sections are required.
Unlike rubbers, polyurethane don't have to be made soft to make them resilient. In fact, polyurethane can be as resilient as much softer materials. For shock absorbing applications, polyurethane can be formulated with rebound values as low as 10% to 25%. For quicker recovery, or where high-frequency vibrations are a factor, rebound values of up to 40% to 70% can be formulated.
Most formulations offer extremely high flex-life and can be expected to outlast other elastomer materials where this feature is an important requirement. Dust boots, bellows, diaphragms, belts, couplings and similar products are made from polyurethane for this reason.
Polyurethane has excellent electrical insulating properties and is used successfully in many moulded wire and cable hardness assemblies.
During the molding process or after processing, polyurethane can be bonded to a wide range of materials. Bond strengths on metal, wood, and plastic substrates are often stronger than the Polyurethane itself, and are usually several times stronger than a similar rubber-to-substrate bond.
Continuous use above 225°F is not recommended nor is Polyurethane recommended in hot water over 175°F. At low temperatures, polyurethane will remain flexible down to -90°F. A gradual stiffening will occur at 0°F, but will not become pronounced until much lower temperatures are obtained.
Operations like Turning, Facing, Drilling, Grinding can be successfully carried with less heat generation and power.