{"id":2645,"date":"2016-03-23T20:35:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T20:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bulldogcastors.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2645"},"modified":"2018-11-02T04:26:20","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T04:26:20","slug":"polyurethane-casters-ultimate-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bulldogcastors.co.uk\/blog\/polyurethane-casters-ultimate-material\/","title":{"rendered":"Polyurethane Casters \u2013 The Ultimate Material"},"content":{"rendered":"

Polyuret<\/strong>hane Casters – What is Polyurethane?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Polyurethane
Polyurethane Casters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Polyurethane Casters, commonly referred PU or PUR is a type of synthetic polymer resin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has a relatively complex chemical composition, which broadly speaking is manufactured by reacting a Poloy (a type of alcohol) with a polymeric isocyanate, along with additions of catalysts and additives.<\/p>\n

Polyurethane can be used to manufacture various types of components, including Caster Wheels<\/strong>, in which two processing methods are generally use:<\/p>\n

Injection Moulding \u2013 If we relate this to the Caster Wheel<\/strong>, the polyurethane pellets<\/strong> are transferred through the screw mechanism of the injection machine which heats the materials to its melting point, at the same time mixing the compound to produce a uniform material.\u00a0 As the material comes to the end of the reciprocating screw mechanism, the material is injected into the cavity of a mould tool, which would be in the shape of the castors<\/a> wheel<\/strong>.\u00a0 The material would then be left to cool and removed for finishing.<\/p>\n

Hot Pouring \u2013 This is a relatively simply and low set-up cost technique, whereby the Polyurethane is supplied in a 2 part liquid form, which is heated & mixed and poured by hand into an open cavity of a mould.\u00a0 The benefit of this process is the tooling is extremely low cost and ideal for low production quantities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Polyurethane for Caster Wheels<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For many application, Polyurethane is the ideal material for a Caster Material.\u00a0 It is a relatively stiff polymer offering many of the properties of both Hard Caster Wheels and Soft Castor Wheels.\u00a0 These characteristics include:<\/p>\n