Rubber

The coating of rubber components and products is a development that has come to fruition especially in the last 20 years. As with so many new technologies, the automotive industry has been the driving force here. A coating on door and window seals ensures that they no longer cause noise while driving, due to movement against the bodywork. Many coating manufacturers therefore call it a weatherstrip coating.

We prefer to speak of flexible finishes, a flexible coating that thus moves with the substrate, bends with it and stretches (sometimes up to 200%). This is ideal for coating rubber parts and improving its properties. Some examples of rubber parts we coat are:

• Dashboard parts in upholstery color
• Sealing rings for chemical toilets
• Burner gaskets for central heating systems
• V-rings
• Quad Rings
• Hatch gaskets for superyacht construction
• Rubber air cushions for moving heavy machinery

Usually these coatings have PTFE or silicone as a base. However, because each manufacturer develops its own formulation, there are many opportunities to achieve exactly the properties the customer envisions with their product.

Brüning Flexible Finishes BV has introduced these coatings to numerous other industries where the good properties of rubber are united with the good properties of PTFE or silicone.

The final choice of coating depends on what the customer/user expects in terms of properties of the final product. Does the finished product need a color (rubber is almost always black because one of the important components in rubber is carbonblack), does the product come in contact with food and require a food safety approval, is the product subject to significant wear? We can solve all these questions by applying the right coating.

One of the most common problems we hear from customers is that the rubber does not slide. This causes automatic assembly machines to fail. By coating the part, these assembly machines will function flawlessly and failures will be a thing of the past.

Some of the properties a coating can add are:

• Lower coefficient of friction (COF).
• No squeaks and creaks
• High chemical resistance
• Anti-adhesive
• Many colors possible, so decorative or simple distinction for externally identical products
• No aging of the rubber
• Longer service life of rubber