Why use rubber compression moulding?

Before rubber is made into these products, it must undergo processing. One of the most widely used techniques to do this is compression moulding. As natural rubber comes from a plant, in its unprocessed form it is viscous, doesn’t hold its shape when exposed to heat and is fragile when it gets too cold making it difficult to be used in products. In this state, the rubber is often referred to as “uncured”. Rubber moulding is the process of exposing the raw material to heat and pressure in order to “cure” the rubber. This is also known as vulcanisation.

Vulcanisation allows the rubber to have many of the favourable properties that rubber products are known to have. This chemically stability gives rubber durability and makes it resistant to degradation when exposed to heat, light, extreme weather and chemicals.

While there are other moulding processes for rubber, mainly rubber injection moulding and transfer moulding, compression moulding is used for its simplicity, cost-effectiveness and ability to quickly produce large quantities. Compression moulding is when pre-heated raw material is “compressed” into a cavity mould, while heat and pressure is continuously applied to the mould until the rubber is cured.

Benefits of Using Compression Moulding

There are a few notable benefits of using compression moulding, which includes: simple process, cost-effective tooling, unlimited quantities and broad use.

Simple Process

As the process for compression moulding is quite simple, it is ideal for producing short run and long running items.

Cost-Effectiveness

Due to lack of specialist tools and time producing goods through compression moulding, it is a cost-effective method, making it ideal for projects in all price ranges.

Unlimited Quantities

Compression moulding can be used to produce a large quantity order or be used for prototyping and an unlimited number of quantities.

Broad Use

Most elastomers can be processed by compression moulding, making it ideal for use in a wide range of rubber products shapes and sizes.

If you are interested in our rubber moulding products, get in touch with our team.