Thread: Rubberized Plastic

Not sure where to put this. :?
Rubberized plastic products are popping up all over the South African market these days. The thing is, I am not entirely convinced that any form of rubber is involved in the manufacturing process. It seems to me that all they did was utilize a method of applying a layer of plastic to the original, or manufactured the whole thing out of this plastic, where the microscopic structure of the surface bumps are similar to that of rubber along with the type of plastic used maybe having similar friction characteristics than rubber. I am guessing that this approach would add some perceived durability and value to a relatively mundane product without actually adding too much to the manufacturing costs. If this were the case, I'd have to say bravo to who ever developed the original technique!

Any of you guys have any information on this?

Rubberized plastic doesn't show up on Wikipedia, thats got to mean something?

I also typed 'what is Rubberized plastic' in Google, and all I get is ad links. I'm not sure as a result, what with Wikipedia lacking an article and no scientific backing for it, that logically as a result it is a scam. But thats just me .

My mouse has "rubberized plastic" buttons. They conduct noticeably less heat from my fingertips than the plastic body - can this be just a microscopic textural difference? Hm.. even wet fingers, less conductive. Presumably the buttons and body shell have similar thickness.

After some searching, I found THIS site where they have opted for "soft touch" grips on a Nivia product. The compound is thermoplastic vulcanisate (TPV) (the blend in this case trade marked as Santoprene®). Some reading through some other sites revealed that different compound mixtures can have different applications depending on the properties of the mixture. Some products are moulded entirely from TVP, while others employ a TVP layer on top. Pretty interesting! Not yet absolutely sure that it is this compound I was wondering about, but, judging from the link and the sites I looked at, it seems to fit the profile. Cool stuff!

Edit: This has almost turned into a spam post! I wonder if I could solicit some marketing funds for my efforts...

Wait a second, thinking now. I think that my rubber skin for my X-box 360 controller is rubberized plastic, I'll have a look into that.