Comparison of TPE, TPV, and TPU:

1. Transparency: TPU outperforms TPE, and TPE outperforms TPV; currently, no transparent TPV products are available on the market, although reportedly some major international companies have already developed such products.

2. Weather resistance: TPV is superior to TPE, and TPE is superior to TPU.

3. Specific gravity: TPE exhibits a wide range of specific gravities, from 0.89 to 1.3; TPV is around 0.98, and TPU ranges from 1.0 to 1.4 (for reference, water has a specific gravity of 1).

4. Wear resistance: TPU outperforms TPV, and TPV outperforms TPE. While highly wear-resistant TPEs are now available, they still fall slightly short of TPU.

5. Oil resistance: TPU (good) is superior to TPV (moderate), while TPE is not oil-resistant;

6. Acid and alkali resistance (weak acids and weak bases): TPV outperforms TPE, while TPU is not resistant to acids or alkalis.

7. Temperature resistance, TPE Yes -60 degrees Celsius ~90 degrees Celsius, TPV Yes -60 degrees Celsius ~130 degrees Celsius, TPU Yes -60 degrees Celsius ~80 Celsius.

Scope of application:

  TPU Application areas:

1. Automotive Industry: Due to TPU’s excellent mechanical properties, as well as its resistance to oils, greases, and extreme temperatures, and its elasticity and wear resistance, it is increasingly being used in the automotive industry—for example, in brake lines, fuel lines, airbags, and interior trim components.

2. Cables: TPU offers tear resistance, abrasion resistance, and flexibility. Resistance to high and low temperatures is especially critical for cable performance. Additionally, it exhibits chemical resistance, hydrolysis resistance, and resistance to microbial degradation, while being easy to process and dye. Consequently, high-grade TPUs are increasingly used as jacketing materials for complex cables such as control and power cables, with applications becoming ever more widespread.

3. Tubing: TPU exhibits flexibility and crack resistance across a wide temperature range, excellent shape memory, resistance to kinking, and easy recovery of its original shape. It is weldable, resistant to oils and chemicals, and compatible with lipids, making it a next-generation high-end tubing material suitable for oil lines, water hoses, compressed air tubes, pneumatic component air supply lines, and more.

4. Footwear and Sports Equipment: TPU is the fourth-generation sole material, following rubber, PVC, and SBS. It offers greater elasticity and superior mechanical strength, along with excellent wear resistance, crack resistance, flexural properties, and enhanced friction. As a result, it has become the preferred material for soles and uppers in highly demanding specialized footwear—such as soccer cleats, ice skates, hiking boots, and work shoes—and can also be used for ball surfaces in soccer, handball, basketball, and volleyball, as well as auxiliary components in various sports equipment.

5. Profiled materials: Because TPU can be processed into various shapes using plastic manufacturing techniques such as injection molding, extrusion, and calendering, it is particularly well suited for producing high-end decorative trims that require oil resistance, high-temperature resistance, aging resistance, and superior mechanical properties. In particular, the excellent elasticity of thermoplastic elastomers—combined with their resistance to oils, hot water, and harsh environments—has made them the material of choice for premium decorative moldings, sealing strips, and composite soft‑hard trim components.

Properties and Applications of TPV

The structural characteristics of TPV ensure both excellent thermoplastic rheological properties, facilitating easy molding and processing through methods such as injection molding, extrusion, and calendering, and high elastomeric performance at room temperature, making it suitable for manufacturing seals, vibration-damping components, protective baffles, and various specialty conduits and fittings for industrial equipment.

Properties and Applications of TPE

TPE combines PVC’s ozone resistance and weathering aging performance with NBR (nitrile rubber)’s crosslinkability, while improving tensile strength, set stress, tear resistance, heat resistance, and flame retardancy. It also offers comprehensive properties such as oil resistance, fuel resistance, chemical resistance, and easy coloration. Moreover, since the main material, PVC, is abundant and inexpensive, TPE finds wide application across many fields.

1. Electrical wires and cables

TPE can be used in the wire and cable industry and can compete with TPU and TPV even in specialized applications such as specialty cables, energy chain cables, and submarine cables.

2. Hose

TPE can be used as a material for rubber hoses, particularly oil-resistant and gas hoses. It is suitable for direct extrusion molding, offering fast production speeds, low expansion rates, and products with smooth, glossy black surfaces. The hose parisons exhibit good stiffness, and dimensions are easy to control. Customer testing and field use have yielded generally positive feedback.

3. Rubber roller

Rubber rollers consist of a metal core coated with rubber through a specific manufacturing process. The slight elastic deformation of the rubber layer on the roller’s surface allows it to withstand a certain amount of pressure, meeting the requirements of processing operations without generating excessive shear stress that could damage the product, thus making it widely applicable. For a long time, rubber has been the primary material used for the outer coating of these rollers. TPE now replaces rubber in the production of rubber rollers, particularly well-suited for applications requiring light-colored or vividly colored rollers, such as those needed in latex glove production lines, printing, dyeing, and textile industries.

4. Sole material

Like TPU, TPE is a next-generation sole material. It not only exhibits excellent oil resistance, solvent resistance, flex-crack resistance, and abrasion resistance, but it is also more affordable than TPU, making it a cost-effective choice for shoe soles.

In addition, TPE can also be used in the production of foam plastics, protective coatings, flame-retardant conveyor belts, various profiled extrusions, and composite soft-hard decorative trims and high-end decorative strips.