Time to read: 4 min

Material selection is one of the most important aspects of any engineering design. Depending upon your project requirements, you may need to balance the hardness or softness of a part in order to use a specific manufacturing method or tooling, or to meet end-use requirements for cushioning or impact resistance. 

When working with rubbers or plastics, the typical hardness measurement methods and scales for metals (such as Rockwell and Vickers) cannot be used. Instead, we have what is known as durometer, which measures and evaluates softer materials like the plastics and rubbers used in medical tubing.

What is Durometer?

Durometer can refer to two things: the hardness of a material, or the tool that is used to take this  measurement. This article covers both, but durometer as a measure of the hardness or softness of a material is probably the more important consideration for part designers. (Material scientists are likely more interested in durometer as a measurement tool.)  

Although a durometer can measure the hardness of many substances, these tools are used typically with rubber or plastic products. O-rings are an example of a rubber part where designers need to specify the durometer. Depending upon the sealing properties required, you’ll need to balance the material’s hardness or softness against other properties, such as an O-ring’s ability to withstand high temperatures or contact with petroleum products.   
For plastics, durometer is critical for both injection molding and additive manufacturing. It’s also a consideration with parts that are CNC machined. That’s because durometer affects not only the final performance of a part such as a plastic gear, but also processing considerations such machine tools and deburring methods.

How Does a Durometer Tool Work?

As mentioned above, in order to test durometer, a tool called a durometer is used. This test generally consists of an indenter pressed into the surface of a material with a precise amount of force, then the depth of the indentation is measured and the device calculates a value. This is just a simple explanation, of course, and there are multiple factors in the testing specification — ASTM D2240 is the standard test method for durometer.

The image below shows how a durometer works.

Image Credit: Hoto Instruments

The value provided in a durometer measurement is not a unit of measurement like inches or pounds. Rather, durometer numbers are a dimensionless measurement compared to other materials that undergo similar testing parameters. 

In order to capture the range of different hardnesses from various materials, 12 Shore hardness scales were created. The two most common scales are Shore A, which measures flexible rubbers to some semi-rigid plastics; and Shore D, which measures hard rubbers, semi-rigid plastics, and hard plastics. 

Below you can see the hardness on the Shore A and Shore D scales of some common products, many of which are made of rubber or plastic.

Image Credit: Hapco Inc.

As a part designer evaluating your options, you’ll see material specifications with a specific durometer value for a material. Of course, material specs are only one element you need to consider when designing a part for injection molding — which is why we created an injection molding design guide that you can download and keep for reference. 

Download the Injection Molding Design Guide

Durometer and Material Selection

Harder plastics and even some Shore D plastics can be machined or injection molded, depending on the quantity of parts required. Machining isn’t an option for Shore A materials or softer Shore D materials because of their material deflection. Instead, a casting or molding process is required, and these types of polymers can be cast in RTV materials to simulate the final production material. Alternatively, a prototype injection mold or a compression mold tool can be constructed to produce parts.

Below are some common categories for rubbers and plastics, and their typical durometers.

Soft Rubbers

• Parts like seals and gaskets often have a typical durometer reading of 30A-40A
• Softer elastomers provide increased cushioning and ductility to support greater sealing

Medium Rubbers

• Medium hardness rubbers typically have durometers that range from 50A-70A
• A medium-durometer rubber can offer a good balance of properties

Hard Rubbers

• Parts like tires and rollers have higher durometer readings of 70A-90A
• Generally, harder rubbers are used in applications that require greater resistance to wear, impact, and abrasion  

Soft Plastics

• Soft plastics usually have durometer readings between 20A-50D
• Similar to soft rubbers, these materials allow for better cushioning and provide flexibility for complex shapes in injection molding

Hard Plastics

• Harder plastics like polycarbonate and acrylic have durometer readings of 80D-90D
•  Similar to hard rubbers, their increased hardness allows for better impact and abrasion resistance at the expense of increased brittleness

Complex Parts at Ridiculous Speeds – Start Your Next Project With Fictiv

Understanding durometer and the material selection tradeoffs that you may have to make are critical for the success of your project, so it’s always good to talk to manufacturing experts, like ours here at Fictiv. 

To get started working with us, create a free account and request a quote today. You’ll get the design for manufacturing (DFM) feedback you need, and Fictiv can answer your questions about durometer and other material properties that affect the success of your project.

No matter how complex your design or the materials you need, we can guide you through the production process to ensure you get good outcomes, fast — Fictiv makes complex parts at ridiculous speeds!

SK series semiautomatic strapping machine is suitable for cartons, calcium-plastic cases, books, soft and hard packages as well as all kinds of articles in square, cylinder or annulations. Use of PP strap cycle starts automatically when strap is inserted. The machine dispenses, tensions, seals and cuts the strap automatically. Integrated circuit board control system ensures precise bonding and high availability. Auto motor shut off after pause for the present time, energy-saving.

SK-1 is ideally suited for general products

 

Features:

√Reliable performance

√Simple operation

√Easy strap loading

√Easy size changeovers

√Cost effective

 

Application:

1. SK series is designed to strap objects by applying PP strapping belt.

2. It is widely used in fields such as post office, office, bank, book store etc.

3. To use in the place where there is enough space, such as factory and warehouse, etc.

Women’s Evening Dresses Tang Dynasty Hanfu Dress

Tang Dynasty Hanfu, a two-piece dress with a suspender dress and a double-breasted outer shirt. This dress is centered on a light green and beige gradient long skirt, with the hem fluttering, fresh and gentle.

On the long dress, the delicate embroidery pattern is lifelike, and every stitch and thread reveals the craftsman’s meticulousness and pursuit of beauty, allowing the wearer to show the classical charm in every move.

The light beige tulle shirt on the outside is light and elegant, like a mist, adding a hazy beauty to the overall shape.

Full Set Package Included:
One Long shirt
One Dress

Size Information Unit cm (1cm=0.394inch, 1 inch=2.54cm) Long Shirt Size Bust Sleeve Length Length Height S Under 92 125 108 145-155 M Under 98 129 111 155-165 L Under 102 133 114 165-175 Dress Size Bust waist Length Height S 78-86 Under 86 115.5 145-155 M 86-90 Under 90 118.5 155-165 L 88-94 Under 94 121.5 165-175 Warm Tips: The size is Asian size, please choose the size according to the size chart Item Measure by hand, it could be 2cm-3cm different. All the images we list are 100% real object photos. But different computer monitor display colors differently.

 

Last night the LFP confirmed the sanctions that Marseille were to face for violent fan behaviour at their game against Lyon at the Velodrome on the 20th September.

Marseille have been hit with a further, partial, one match stadium ban, closing the south stand, which is renowned for its ultras. Both the north and south stands had been closed for Marseille’s recent home game against Angers, so that takes the total punishment to two home games without the south stand and one without the north stand.

Marseille were also fined €40,000 for failing to control their fans, especially regarding behaviour directed at Mathieu Valbuena.

The LFP have admitted that the measure that OM have taken in order to prevent such an incident happening again have contributed to their clemency in this regard.

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Former Marseille central midfielder and FC Porto player Giannelli Imbula has begun the procedure to represent Belgium as his national team of choice.

Imbula was born near Brussels and after months of charm offensives from the Belgian FA and specifically the national team boss Marc Wilmots, it is believed that Imbula and his entourage have given Belgium an oral agreement to play for them, with the objective being to play a part in EURO 2016, according to L’Équipe.

However, Imbula must first obtain Belgian nationality and then make his decision official. Will Deschamps attempt to hijack the player’s decision, much like he did when Nabil Fékir first chose to represent Algeria last year?

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その名前のように、

Cl Eの腕時計を開くようにあげ心锁の鍵、

表冠“カタッ”回転の瞬間、

時間が止まって君のあの時。

彼女はまるで星の瞳、カルティエ時計職人をなって、輝くダイヤモンドを象眼して、文字盤の上にあげたde Cl。ダイヤモンドは、不純な不純物のない愛を象徴する。革のバンドの独特なテクスチャー、あなた達の最も唯一無二で複製の感情を展示することを展示しました。

あなた達はいっしょに大笑いし、互いに世界の別の1つの互いにいっしょになり。あなたの選択と同じデザインのCl Eのように腕時計をあげ、結婚式の誓いをかわす。はそれは別の半分を優しく抱きしめ、悔しいの念を押し、永遠温熙の笑顔。カルティエはこの大胆と詩情を、腕間、愛情の章節を書く。

金色の日光撒き散らす身にかぶるCl Eの腕時計のように暖かい手にあげたいのでは握った。初めて手をつないだシーンは覚えているかな？慎重なのですか？やっぱりきっと勇敢な？今あなたの手をつないで歩いたり、あれらの熟知知らない場所、相手の手のひらの温度はすでにあなたの身体の一部。時間、記憶の中では、その瞬間、その瞬間を記録していない。

http://copy2017.com/list/31

Cl E deあげカップル表に見届けてお互い約束忠節誓い：恋に結婚ホールにまで、激情家族、無邪気偕老同穴の契り歳月からまで、この世で最も貴重な時間を過ごしてもお互いに付き添って。バインド絡み、光る、日々、毎分、毎秒も離れないで見捨てないで、一生変えない。

時の舞曲中は悠然と踊る。童話のストーリの結末と同じように、王女と王子は幸せな生活がいっしょに含まれ、美しい願いのCl Eの表もあげ代々伝わって、すべて相手を尽くして最も丁寧な約束。

http://copy2017.com/

Time to read: 2 min

One of the major benefits of printing in Polyjet is the ability to print in multiple materials for a single part. This allows you to simulate overmolds, create soft touch applications, and build living hinges among many other applications.

We get a lot of questions about how to prepare files for multi-material prints, so here’s a quick guide to help you out!

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General Instructions

When preparing your CAD model for printing in multiple materials, you want to make sure to separate your solid bodies so you can specify which body should be printed with which material. This is easily done in most parametric CAD programs and below we’ll cover the process in Solidworks as an example.

Here are the 3 steps to follow:

1. Prepare your CAD file with different solid bodies and save as a STEP.
2. Create a PDF either as a screenshot or drawing which specifies the material for each solid body. Remember to put the durometer you want for the rubber-like material.
3. Upload your STEP file and PDF to Fictiv and select rubber-like as the material.

And that’s it – you’re all done! Now let’s take a look how this would be done specifically in Solidworks as an example.

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How to Prepare Your File in Solidworks

1. Prepare the Solidworks file with multiple solid bodies. This can either be an assembly where you have multiple parts, or a single part file with multiple bodies in it.
2. Color code your file to make it easy to distinguish the different materials
3. Save file as a STEP file.
4. Create a screenshot or PDF drawing which calls out the material for each body.
5. Upload PDF and STEP file to Fictiv.com and select rubber-like as your material.

Recently, the Henan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and the Henan Provincial Department of Finance organized the acceptance meeting of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s intelligent manufacturing comprehensive standardization project “Standard Research and Test Verification of Precision Bearing Digital Workshop”. At the meeting, the expert group listened to the project work report and agreed that the project has successfully completed the research content, all indicators have met the requirements, and the project has successfully passed the acceptance.

The project is led by Luoyang Bearing Research Institute Co., Ltd., Beijing Machinery Industry Automation Research Institute Co., Ltd., Henan University of Science and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Luoyang LYC Bearing Co., Ltd., Baota Industrial Co., Ltd., and Linyi Kaiyuan Bearing Co., Ltd. jointly participate. With the full cooperation of all participating units, the project has carried out key technology research on precision (high-end) bearing digital workshop, digital information integration and application from three aspects: standardized development, test verification platform construction and demonstration application, and formed a set of demonstration solutions. Plan, formulate “Precision Bearing Grinding Super Precision Digital Workshop Part 1: General Requirements”, “Precision Bearing Grinding Super Precision Digital Workshop Part 2: Data Collection”, “Precision Bearing Grinding Super Precision Digital Workshop Part 3: Quality Monitoring and Analysis” three draft standards.

The implementation of this project has further standardized the construction of digital workshops for precision bearings, which will help improve the processing quality and product life of high-end bearings, and play a leading role in promoting intelligent manufacturing in the bearing industry. ZYS will increase technological innovation in the field of intelligent manufacturing, strengthen key technology research, and continue to promote the transformation and upgrading of the bearing industry.

Neurotensin-loaded collagen dressings reduce inflammation and improve wound healing in diabetic mice.

Moura LI, Dias AM, Suesca E, Casadiegos S, Leal EC, Fontanilla MR, Carvalho L, de Sousa HC, Carvalho E., Biochim Biophys Acta., 2014, 1842, 32-43. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2013.10.009. Epub 2013 Oct 23.

Impaired wound healing is an important clinical problem in diabetes mellitus and results in failure to completely heal diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), which may lead to lower extremity amputations. In the present study, collagen based dressings were prepared to be applied as support for the delivery of neurotensin (NT), a neuropeptide that acts as an inflammatory modulator in wound healing. The performance of NT alone and NT-loaded collagen matrices to treat wounds in streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic induced mice was evaluated. Results showed that the prepared dressings were not-cytotoxic up to 72h after contact with macrophages (Raw 264.7) and human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cell lines. Moreover, those cells were shown to adhere to the collagen matrices without noticeable change in their morphology. NT-loaded collagen dressings induced faster healing (17% wound area reduction) in the early phases of wound healing in diabetic wounded mice. In addition, they also significantly reduced inflammatory cytokine expression namely, TNF-α (p<0.01) and IL-1β (p<0.01) and decreased the inflammatory infiltrate at day 3 post-wounding (inflammatory phase). After complete healing, metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is reduced in diabetic skin (p<0.05) which significantly increased fibroblast migration and collagen (collagen type I, alpha 2 (COL1A2) and collagen type III, alpha 1 (COL3A1)) expression and deposition. These results suggest that collagen-based dressings can be an effective support for NT release into diabetic wound enhancing the healing process. Nevertheless, a more prominent scar is observed in diabetic wounds treated with collagen when compared to the treatment with NT alone.

Chitosan-based dressings loaded with neurotensin-an efficient strategy to improve early diabetic wound healing.

Moura LI, Dias AM, Leal EC, Carvalho L, de Sousa HC, Carvalho E., Acta Biomater., 2014, 10, 843-57. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2013.09.040. Epub 2013 Oct 10.

 

One important complication of diabetes mellitus is chronic, non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). This study aims to develop and use dressings based on chitosan derivatives for the sustained delivery of neurotensin (NT), a neuropeptide that acts as an inflammatory modulator in wound healing. Three different derivatives, namely N-carboxymethyl chitosan, 5-methyl pyrrolidinone chitosan (MPC) and N-succinyl chitosan, are presented as potential biomaterials for wound healing applications. Our results show that MPC has the best fluid handling capacity and delivery profile, also being non-toxic to Raw 264.7 and HaCaT cells. NT-loaded and non-loaded MPC dressings were applied to control/diabetic wounds to evaluate their in vitro/in vivo performance. The results show that the former induced more rapid healing (50% wound area reduction) in the early phases of wound healing in diabetic mice. A NT-loaded MPC foam also reduced expression of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α (P<0.001) and decreased the amount of inflammatory infiltrate on day 3. On day 10 MMP-9 was reduced in diabetic skin (P<0.001), significantly increasing fibroblast migration and collagen (COL1A1, COL1A2 and COL3A1) expression and deposition. These results suggest that MPC-based dressings may work as an effective support for sustained NT release to reduce DFUs

Copyright © 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

POD SALT CORE VANILLA NIC SALT E-LIQUID

Pod Salt Core Vanilla flourishes with a simple yet velvety smooth flavour of vanilla cream, fluffy and buttery from inhale to its sweet aftertaste.
Explore Pod Salt’s complete range of e-liquids that are guaranteed to provide exceptional flavour in a smooth and satisfying throat hit, such as their Pod Salt Nexus, Origins, and Fusions nic salt ranges. 

Specifications

• Flavours: Vanilla
• Nicotine Type: Nicotine Salt
• Bottle Size: 10ml
• Nicotine Strength: 5mg, 11mg and 20mg
• VG/PG Ratio: 50/50
• Vaping Style: MTL
• Easy Fill Nozzle
• Childproof Cap

Pod Salt is regarded as a world-renowned vape and e-liquid manufacturer, offering award-winning flavours in both shortfills and nic salts using their industry-leading recipe. The Core Nic Salt collection by Pod Salt takes you back to their signature nic salt recipe, expertly blended to bring out the core of their 18 naturally fruity and pure flavours. 

Pod Salt Core comes conveniently packaged in 10ml bottles, providing vapers with a budget-friendly refillable e-liquid that serves as a perfect nic-salt alternative to single-use disposable vapes. 

With 5mg, 11mg, and 20mg nicotine salt strengths available, you can quickly satisfy your cravings. Using nicotine salts provides a smoother throat hit, enhancing your overall vaping experience. 

Expertly balanced in a 50/50 PG/VG blend, Pod Salt Core nic salt e-liquids are ideally used with Vape Starter Kits and Pod Vape Kits.

Are you new and trying out vaping for the first time? You should check out our beginners’ guide, where we simplify vaping to its fundamentals and explain the benefits of switching to your first vape kit.