Neoprene – The Secret of Eternal Youth!
If an elastomer could be said to embody the secret of eternal youth, it would be called Neoprene!! Commercialized by DuPont as “DuPrene” nearly 75 years ago, and renamed “Neoprene” by the company in 1936, the world's first synthetic elastomer is still the workhorse of industry, and the focus of continued innovation.
DuPont Performance Elastomers' Neoprene polychloroprene was originally developed as an oil resistant substitute for natural rubber — a characteristic that still makes it a top performer in a million applications today. But Neoprene is much more than an oil resisting elastomer.
“Wherever you need seals, hoses and other flexible automotive parts, long-life window gaskets, highway joints, power cable jacketing, shoe soles, wet suits, household gloves, coated fabrics, caulks, adhesives and a thousand other resilient long-life components — you'll find Neoprene.” |
A lifetime's development of the original chemistry — modifying the polymer structure by copolymerizing chloroprene with sulfur and/or 2,3 dichloro 1,3-butadiene — has led to a broad family of materials with properties that set cost-to-performance standards even in 2005.
From G Types to W, T and A Types and liquid dispersions, Neoprene is still a remarkably capable material. It resists degradation from sun, ozone and weather, remains useful over a wide temperature range, displays outstanding physical toughness, resists burning better than exclusively hydrocarbon rubbers, and offers outstanding resistance to damage caused by flexing and twisting.
Wherever you need reasonably priced seals, hoses and other flexible automotive parts, long-life window gaskets, highway joints and other resilient building components, power cable jacketing, shoe soles, wet suits, household gloves, coated fabrics, caulks and adhesives — you'll find Neoprene.
On this page we illustrate just some of those applications to prove that this 75 year-old is still very much alive, stretching, and exploring new horizons!
