The difference between polyurethane foam and polyethylene foam

 

Polyurethane foam and polyethylene foam are both foamed foam products, and the foaming technology and process are similar. The essential difference between polyurethane and polyethylene is the foaming raw material, and the raw material of polyethylene foam is polyethylene. The foaming material of polyurethane foam is polyurethane, a polymer compound. It is a common and cheap industrial material.

 

Material difference:

 

Polyurethane: Soft polyurethane (PU) is mainly a thermoplastic linear structure, which has better stability, chemical resistance, resilience and mechanical properties than PVC foam materials, and has less compression deformation. It has good thermal insulation, sound insulation, shock resistance and anti-virus performance. Therefore, it is used as packaging, sound insulation, filter material.

 

Rigid polyurethane (PU) plastic is light in weight, excellent in sound insulation and thermal insulation, chemical resistance, good electrical properties, easy processing, and low water absorption. It is mainly used in construction, automobile, aviation industry, thermal insulation structural materials.

 

The performance of polyurethane elastomer is between plastic and rubber, oil resistance, wear resistance, low temperature resistance, aging resistance, high hardness and elasticity. Mainly used in shoe industry and medical industry. Polyurethane can also be used to make adhesives, coatings, synthetic leather, etc.

Polyethylene: Polyethylene (PE for short) is a thermoplastic resin obtained by the polymerization of ethylene. In industry, copolymers of ethylene with small amounts of alpha-olefins are also included. Polyethylene is odorless, non-toxic, feels like wax, has excellent low temperature resistance (minimum operating temperature can reach -100~-70°C), good chemical stability, and can resist most acid and alkali erosion (not resistant to oxidation nature acid). Insoluble in common solvents at room temperature, low water absorption, excellent electrical insulation

 

Structure: The result of PE is a stomata structure. It is obvious that there are a lot of stomata on the side of the cutting thickness, while the PU material is a cellular structure with a microporous structure, which is almost invisible to the naked eye.

Use effect: Because of the large pores, the thickness of PE is greatly affected by the pressure during use, while the polyurethane (PU) has a microporous structure, which does not change much under the influence of pressure during use, and can better protect it. Polyurethane (PU) can also produce slow rebound, fast rebound, high elasticity and hardness, which is also impossible for polyethylene foam.

 

From the above perspectives, this is also the value of polyurethane foam (PU foam).