Carbon Debuts New Damping Elastomers

At Formnext, Carbon announced two new damping elastomers, EPU 43 and EPU 45. The elastomers add to Carbon's portfolio of materials as part of its idea-to-production platform. They offer products in impact protection such as padding, gloves and helmets. 

EPU 43 is an energy-damping elastomer that is soft while offering durability under high-cycle flexing, making it suited for applications like comfort padding for helmet liners and safety gloves. EPU 45 achieves damping performance and printability within the Carbon portfolio, designed for high-performance applications including sports padding and seating.  

“EPU 43 and EPU 45 are the future of impact protection, providing the benefits of performance, comfort, and durability that come with Carbon's elastomers,” says Jason Rolland, senior vice president of Materials at Carbon. “EPU 43 and 45 further exemplify our commitment to providing a robust and complete idea-to-production platform.”

Carbon's new, dual-cure, damping elastomers offer new solutions for impact protection needs, including:

Damping performance: EPU 45 is a strain-rate-sensitive material that stiffens to absorb energy at higher impact rates, enabling the design of breathable lattice geometries tuned for comfort at low-impact speeds and energy absorption at high-impact speeds. 

Durability and comfort: EPU 45 has the toughness and recovery needed to survive repeated, high-energy impacts in a variety of environments. 

Production Throughput: EPU 45 has the highest green strength of Carbon's elastomers, allowing a range of part shapes and lattice geometries to be printed with a high yield. 

Proven-in-production: Products using EPU 45 will be on the market soon and EPU 43 has been proven with products like the CCM Hockey helmet.

Both elastomers are available now in North America, Europe and China. Starting in 19L package sizes with high-volume production workflows, EPU 45 will also be available in 5L samples to support mid-volume production workflows. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

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