“What hardness do you want?” This question is almost always the first question that comes up in a discussion of a customer’s needs concerning a TPE product. Why is this the case? One key reason is that the hardness, or durometer, of a tpe material is one of the few properties of a plastic material that can actually be the subject of a sensory experience…namely, the sense of touch. In the world of TPEs, touch, or haptics, is one of the key criteria designers use when choosing to use a TPE.

Hardness in the TPE world is usually measured on the “A” scale from 0 Shore “A” to 90 Shore “A”. TPE materials harder than 90 Shore “A” are typically measured on the “D” scale. A 90 Shore “A” material is roughly equal to a 40 Shore “D” material. Styrenic Block Copolymer (SBCs) TPEs range in hardness from 0 on the Shore “A” scale to the upper ranges of the Shore “D” scale.