Do you mix your own compounds, and what curing equipment do you run?

Do you mix your own compounds, and what curing equipment do you run?

Compounds are mixed in house, and curing runs on our own lines.

Buying ready-made compound is faster, but it hands control of the most important variable to a supplier. We mix our own: raw rubber and additives are weighed and blended in house so the ratio, hardness and cure system are set by us and repeat from batch to batch.

Mixing

Open mills and an internal mixer handle plastification and blending. Formulations are ours, which is what makes it possible to adjust a compound for a specific complaint, such as a seal that hardened in service or a hose that bloomed white at the surface, instead of changing supplier and starting over.

Curing

Continuous curing runs on a platinum curing machine and automated rubber extrusion lines, with a hot-air vulcanization tunnel up to 200 m long. Long tunnels matter for thick sections: the profile spends enough time at temperature for the core to cure fully, not just the skin. Compression moulding covers the parts that cannot be extruded.

Extrusion line feeding the curing tunnel
Extrusion line
EPDM profile after curing, cut and packed
Cured profile, cut and packed
Black EPDM hose after curing
Cured EPDM hose