Comparing thermoplastic elastomers and thermoset rubber

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) and thermoset rubbers are compared. In contrast to thermoplastic elastomers, thermoset rubbers are single-phase materials, without the dual hard and soft phases. Rubber materials are natural or synthetic polymer macromolecules, and can be polymerized as homopolymers or random copolymers/terpolymers. The structure of rubber is amorphous, exclusive of crystalline domains, but TPEs are composed of discrete blocks of crystalline and amorphous domains within the same polymer chain. In addition to the intermolecular bonds holding the polymer chains together, similar to that of TPEs, rubber materials have non-reversible covalent chemical bonds binding the individual chains together. Both thermoplastic elastomers and thermoset rubber materials get their principal properties from the base polymer. However, both types of materials contain formulation additives that modify and enhance the final properties of the compounds. Both types of materials, thermoplastic elastomers and thermoset rubbers, are diverse classes of polymeric materials offering a wide range of properties.