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Materials for hose production
Find out more about our materials: Which materials are used in hose production and what are the advantages of the individual materials? Get an overview here.
We process technically sophisticated plastics, fabrics and films into high-quality industrial hoses and innovative connection solutions.
We can draw on many years of experience in the field of polymer materials, fabrics and films and their processing. By processing modern materials, we realise solutions that can only be realised inadequately, with great effort or not at all with conventional materials. We have the necessary material expertise to process these sophisticated materials into hoses and connections that set international standards.
Plastics are versatile materials. An outstanding feature of plastics is that their technical properties, such as mouldability, hardness, elasticity, breaking strength, temperature resistance, heat resistance and chemical resistance, can be varied within wide limits through the choice of base material, manufacturing process and admixture of additives.
The majority of hoses used to extract and convey abrasive solids are made from the high-performance material polyurethane (PUR). Polyurethane (PUR) is a modern, versatile plastic and offers an interesting combination of elasticity, resilience and ageing resistance over a wide temperature range. The properties of PUR can also be modified by adding additives and adapted to specific operating conditions. PUR is more flexible, more resistant and more wear-resistant to abrasive or aggressive materials and many chemicals. This increases the service life of PUR products. In contrast to PVC, polyurethane is free from plasticisers. The vast majority of PU hoses are transparent so that the material flow is visible and can be monitored.
Polyethylene is a thermoplastic and belongs to the group of polyolefins. Due to its high resistance to acids, alkalis and chemicals, polyethylene is very durable and has a much higher chemical resistance than PU. The material has harder material properties than polyurethane. Polyethylene hoses are particularly suitable for demanding applications, e.g. for transporting aggressive gaseous and liquid media or for transporting fine-grained particles such as dusts and powders in the chemical industry. The PE material is particularly resistant to acetone, benzenes, toluenes and xylenes.
PVC is one of the amorphous plastics. Nevertheless, this material is characterised by excellent media resistance. Hoses made of this material are suitable for almost any environment and for almost any application - unless solvents (aromatics, esters, ketones, CHCs) are used. PVC is an inexpensive, versatile material. However, the temperature resistance and abrasion resistance of PVC are significantly lower than those of polyurethane. In addition, the material can become brittle over time due to migrating plasticisers, which can lead to premature failure of the hose.
The TPV hoses manufactured by Masterflex are made from a thermoplastic rubber. TPVs belong to the group of thermoplastic elastomers, which combine the performance properties of vulcanisable rubber, such as heat resistance and low compression set, with the easy processability of thermoplastics in an excellent way.
Polyamide is a frequently used material for fully extruded plastic hoses. Due to the large number of common PA variants, the labelling of these is very complex. All standard thermoplastic processing methods are possible. The various PA variants differ only slightly in their properties. PA is generally characterised by its very good sliding and wear behaviour, dry running properties, insensitivity to dirt and resistance to chemicals. Our PA hoses are traditionally used in mechanical engineering, robotics and automation, painting technology, automotive and many more.
Additives as a material supplement in hose production
Additives are substances that are added to a plastic in order to achieve certain properties. Additives can be, for example, lubricants, anti-blocking agents, antistatic agents, flame retardants, colouring agents, plasticisers and many more. The specific applications of the individual additives can usually be found in the name categories of the additives.
Antistatic agents for example, are intended to reduce the electrostatic charge of a material. Flame retardants are intended to prevent the plastic from burning. Flame retardants can be added to the plastic through compounding or bound directly to the substrate as reactive polymers. Colourants are insoluble pigments or colourants that are only soluble in the plastic. They change the colour of the plastic.
Fabric as a material for hoses
We specialise in the processing of high-performance fabrics. Our clip hoses, for example, are made from different types of fabric. The individual types of fabric differ from each other in terms of their properties. For example, there are particularly chemical-resistant fabrics such as PTFE, Viton, Kapton or Hypalon. Particularly heat-resistant types of fabric are also processed, which enable use in the high-temperature range. The materials used are clamped together in a clip process using an external steel spiral to form tensile-resistant hoses. This process does not involve welding, gluing or sewing. Depending on the external or internal stresses, the hoses can also be manufactured in multiple layers.
The whole world of hoses
We have the right hose for every application. Find out more about our range of standard hoses.
To the standard hoses
Modern manufacturing processes
In addition to standard processes such as extrusion, we use innovative manufacturing processes on specially developed machines and systems.
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