Brand information
Pebax® Elastomer Family - A family of lightweight polymers that offer unmatched energy return and cold temperature durability for dynamic applications.
Pebax® thermoplastic elastomers consist of polyamide and polyether backbone blocks. These specialty elastomers offer very low material density, a wide range of shore hardness values, extremely efficient energy return (over a wide temperature range) and are optionally biobased.
What are Pebax® Elastomers?
Pebax® Elastomers are block copolymers made up of rigid polyamide blocks and soft polyether blocks. Manipulating these blocks and their relative ratio allows for the creation of a large range that spans the flexibility spectrum from very hard and rigid to very soft and flexible, without the need for plasticizers. These unique polymers maintain the highly desirable combination of the toughness traditionally associated with polyamides and the flexibility/elasticity more often seen with polyethers/polyesters.
Pebax® elastomers are among the highest performing in the world.
They are produced by Arkema in France and the USA. The Pebax® Rnew® range is partially bio-based (renewable).
A Proven Legacy
For many years, Pebax® elastomers have become famous for their outstanding combination of lightweight (typically 20% lighter than competitive polymers) and tremendously efficient energy return. Their "hysteresis loss" (intrinsic energy loss during flexural cycling) are among the lowest in the world. Further, Pebax® elastomers tend to maintain this flexural efficiency advantage over a wide temperature range - in other words, they tend not to stiffen/embrittle at lower temperature, and they tend not to soften or lose elasticity at higher temperatures.
Extreme Performance in Sports
The inherent combination of lightness, toughness, flexibility and outstanding energy return has helped establish Pebax® resins as the reference polymers in several flagship sports applications.
A simple Google® search shows that most of the world's leading manufacturers of sports shoes, cleated boots and ski boots proudly wear the Pebax® brand as a badge of honor - a reference to extreme performance and cutting edge technology. Hundreds of world records have been enabled on tracks around the world by Pebax® elastomers. And countless goals, touchdowns, downhill time trial records, and game-winning extra-points have been scored by famous professional athletes who demand only the best!
Catheters for Critical Care
Heart surgeons across the world know what makes Pebax® MED elastomers the global reference for angioplasty catheters. They demand extreme torque translational efficiency while also requiring strength and outstanding maneuverability. Visit our medical devices and catheters page to learn more, and to read Arkema's medical device policy.
Industrial Strength
By tailoring the polymer block makeup, Arkema is able to offer a wide range of Pebax® elastomers for industrial applications. Several grades are inherently breathable - films made from these allow the easy passage of water vapor while preventing any migration of liquid water.
Similarly, many grades are inherently antistatic in nature. These grades, when used as additives in "host polymer matrices", ensure long term, high efficiency, non migratory static dissipation.
Pebax® elastomers are also recommended for a wide range of industrial film applications where the traditional durability and toughness of polyamides resin (nylon) is required, but also the ability to bend, draw, and repeatedly flex.
Pebax® Rnew® - Partially bio based, renewable grades
Pebax® Rnew® grades are partially bio based, renewable elastomers that use the same source as Rilsan® Polyamide 11 (PA11). Castor oil, derived from the seeds of castor plants (a non-edible plant that grows with little need for water) is used to synthesize the basic building block of PA11. Pebax® Rnew® grades are polyether block amides, where the amide block is PA11, compared to standard Pebax® grades that have a PA12 block.
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