Understanding the Risks of Food Contamination

Food and beverage contamination is a major concern for manufacturers. While sanitation and temperature control are essential, they are not always sufficient to prevent all contamination risks. Government regulations require food, beverage, and pharmaceutical manufacturers to eliminate foreign materials from ingredients to ensure consumer safety.

Contaminants such as plastic, metal fragments, and rubber residues can enter the production process, leading to costly product recalls. The USDA recalled over 15.5 million pounds of food in one year due to foreign-material contamination, highlighting the importance of proactive safety measures.

The Financial and Reputational Costs of Food Recalls

Food recalls are not only expensive but can severely impact a company’s reputation. On average, recalls cost $10 million, covering:

• Communication and public relations efforts
• Retrieving and disposing of recalled products
• Investigating the source of contamination
• Implementing corrective actions to prevent recurrence

In today’s digital age, news about recalls spreads quickly. Negative exposure on social media, news outlets, and consumer review platforms can cause long-term brand damage, making it more difficult to rebuild consumer trust.

How Metal-Detectable Rubber Enhances Food Safety

One of the most effective ways to prevent contamination in food processing is by using metal-detectable rubber components. These specialized rubber parts contain metal-detectable additives, allowing food processors to quickly identify and remove any foreign material before products reach consumers.

Benefits of Metal-Detectable Rubber in Food Processing

• Prevents Contamination – Detectable by metal detectors and X-ray systems
• Ensures Compliance – Meets FDA and USDA food safety regulations
• Reduces Recalls – Lowers the risk of costly recalls and legal consequences
• Protects Equipment – Prevents contamination-related machinery downtime

Applications of Metal-Detectable Rubber in the Food and Beverage Industry

Metal-detectable rubber is commonly used in seals, gaskets, hoses, and conveyor belts within food and beverage production facilities. It is ideal for:

• Dairy Processing – Preventing contamination in milk and cheese production
• Beverage Bottling Plants – Ensuring safety in carbonated and non-carbonated drink manufacturing
• Meat and Poultry Processing – Detecting contaminants before packaging and distribution
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing – Ensuring purity in medicine and supplement production

Improve Food Safety with Robinson Rubber Products

At Robinson Rubber Products, we specialize in manufacturing high-quality metal-detectable rubber components to help food and beverage companies maintain safety and compliance. Our team works closely with manufacturers to design custom rubber solutions that fit specific industry needs.

Looking for expert guidance on food-safe rubber components?

• Download our free guide to learn how metal-detectable rubber can enhance food safety.
• Request a quote today—call 763.535.6737 or email sales@robinsonrubber.com.

How to Prevent Peristaltic Pump Failures with the Right Tubing

Peristaltic pumps are widely used in applications that handle aggressive or sensitive fluids, such as corrosive detergents, chemical solutions, and industrial cleaners. Common industries include commercial laundry, dishwashing, floor care, and laboratory systems.

A frequent and costly problem in these systems is tubing failure. Selecting the wrong tubing material can result in premature wear, pump damage, safety hazards, and system downtime. This guide outlines how to prevent those failures with strategic tubing selection.

Understanding Peristaltic Pumps

How Peristaltic Pumps Work

Peristaltic pumps operate by compressing flexible tubing between a rotor-mounted roller and the pump housing. As the rotor turns, fluid is pushed through the tube without coming into contact with moving parts, making the system ideal for sterile or chemically aggressive environments.

Compared to other pump types, such as diaphragm pumps or gear pumps, peristaltic pumps offer several unique advantages:

• No contamination risk: Because the fluid only contacts the inner wall of the tubing, there’s no risk of cross-contamination, which is crucial in applications involving sensitive or reactive chemicals.
• Self-priming capability: Peristaltic pumps can run dry and self-prime without damage, unlike gear pumps which often require external priming.
• Simplified maintenance: The tubing can be replaced quickly without disassembling the entire pump, unlike diaphragm or gear mechanisms which often require more complex servicing.

These benefits make peristaltic pumps a preferred choice in industries that demand precise, contamination-free fluid delivery with minimal downtime. Peristaltic pumps operate by compressing flexible tubing between a rotor-mounted roller and the pump housing. As the rotor turns, fluid is pushed through the tube without coming into contact with moving parts, making the system ideal for sterile or chemically aggressive environments.

Why Tubing Matters

The tube is the only part of the pump in direct contact with the fluid and is continuously flexed and compressed. The tubing must withstand repeated mechanical stress while remaining chemically compatible with the fluid it transports.

Common Causes of Tubing Failure

Chemical Incompatibility

Many fluids used in peristaltic pump applications—such as bleach, solvents, and surfactants—can degrade tubing not designed for chemical resistance. In industries like commercial cleaning, food processing, and industrial equipment manufacturing, common culprits include sodium hypochlorite (bleach), hydrochloric acid, and isopropyl alcohol. These chemicals can cause swelling, brittleness, or breakdown in materials not engineered to withstand them.

Mechanical Wear

Repeated compression causes tubes to fatigue over time. Inadequate material selection accelerates wear, resulting in:

• Flattening or collapse
• Surface cracking
• Reduced flow consistency
• Shortened pump life

Incorrect Temperature Ratings

Exposure to high or fluctuating temperatures can cause softening, hardening, or cracking, depending on the tubing material.

What to Look for in Peristaltic Pump Tubing

Key Performance Characteristics

To optimize reliability, evaluate tubing based on:

Attribute	Importance
Chemical Compatibility	Prevents material breakdown and swelling
Flex Life	Supports long-term use without cracking or fatigue
Compression Set Resistance	Ensures tubing returns to shape after being squeezed
Temperature Tolerance	Maintains performance in extreme or fluctuating temperatures
Regulatory Compliance	Critical for applications in food, beverage, or medical markets

 

Why Periflex™ EPDM Tubing Is a Reliable Choice

Robinson Rubber’s Periflex™ EPDM tubing is specifically designed for peristaltic pump applications. Its formulation offers a balance of mechanical durability and chemical resistance for demanding environments.

Advantages of Periflex™ EPDM Tubing

• Compatible with many aggressive cleaners and detergents
• High flex life and resistance to compression fatigue; tested to withstand up to 1,000 hours of continuous flexing without loss of integrity
• Low compression set performance with values under 25% in dynamic applications, helping maintain flow rates over time
• Suitable for use in cleaning and sanitation equipment
• Customizable to meet application-specific needs, including tailored durometer, wall thickness, and chemical resistance profiles

Our team can also assist in developing custom tubing configurations to match your pump design and application requirements.

Best Practices for Maximizing Tubing and Pump Life

Select the Right Material Early

Engage with your tubing supplier during the design phase to ensure proper material selection based on:

• Fluid chemistry
• Expected operating conditions
• Mechanical stress and duty cycles

Monitor for Wear Indicators

Inspect tubing regularly for signs of:

• Surface degradation
• Swelling
• Flow reduction
• Loss of elasticity

Schedule Preventative Replacements

Implement a replacement schedule based on test data or manufacturer recommendations, not just visual inspection. For EPDM-based tubing like Periflex™, a general guideline is to replace the tubing every 500 to 1,000 operating hours depending on chemical exposure and mechanical stress. High-frequency or high-pressure applications may require more frequent intervals.

Establishing a proactive replacement plan helps avoid unexpected downtime and ensures consistent fluid delivery performance. Implement a replacement schedule based on test data or manufacturer recommendations, not just visual inspection.

Get Expert Help from Robinson Rubber

Choosing the right peristaltic tubing can prevent costly failures and keep your system operating efficiently. Robinson Rubber brings over 85 years of expertise in custom elastomer formulation, precision molding, and in-house material testing—ensuring each tubing solution is tailored to meet demanding application requirements.

To learn more or request a quote

Call: 763-535-6737
Email: sales@robinsonrubber.com

Learn if rubber might be your best solution for components in critical applications

Robinson Rubber Products, a designer, developer and manufacturer of custom-molded rubber products, extruded rubber products and precision rollers, has several new capabilities to bond molded rubber components to your parts to deliver superior performance. Bonding rubber to your part can also eliminate secondary operations and extra components, plus reduce weight and costs. Robinson Rubber announces it has designed and manufactured a coupling device that helps RV generators deliver significantly improved performance. A prominent manufacturer of electrical generator sets for recreational vehicles was redesigning their product platform, pushing the envelope for higher power, quieter function, and greater efficiency, all in a smaller package. The old technology of using a fabric-reinforced rubber drive belt to connect the gasoline engine to the generator flywheel was no longer working and a new approach was needed. The higher peak loads in their new more powerful engine design were shredding the existing belt technology, turning a 10-year generator service life into a few hours! The Engineering team decided they needed to soften the peak loads of the pistons so the belt could survive, and a rubber coupling device seemed like a good solution. However, the new genset was scheduled to launch soon and there was no budget to solve this problem. Complicating the situation further, such a device would need to fit within a very tight space requirement, and it would have to have to tolerate high heat, ozone and vibration.

After calling in two leading rubber component manufacturers and wasting precious days, the manufacturer found that both firms proposed custom solutions with a component cost of $15- $20 each, and that their timelines had prototype and production development taking months. The purchasing agent of the generator manufacturer suggested the Engineering team turn to Robinson Rubber for a solution. Years of experience told him this should be a $5 part, not a $20 one. That, plus Robinson Rubber had been a trusted supplier for several of their other rubber components since 1954.

The Engineering team agreed and work started immediately on prototypes. But it was not just a matter of Robinson Rubber meeting a bunch of documented physical specifications and sizes; the drive coupling needed to be dynamically balanced, analyzed and tuned to mate with the dynamic drive characteristics of the generator. It required damping character in order to smooth out the explosive impulse of the engine, but without excessive energy absorption that might lead to extreme internal heating of the rubber, that could cause it to self-destruct. Also, the device’s natural frequency needed to be tuned far enough away from that of the engine so they cancel each other modally. If the vibrations matched, you’d get a reinforcing dynamic that would destroy the coupling and the generator. No pun intended, but developing the right dynamic coupling component is a balancing act.

To help quickly get to production, Robinson Rubber proposed a parallel development strategy, involving 20 different prototype designs varying in size, thickness and rubber formulation. The customer’s Engineering team tested the performance of all 20 units, narrowing the field down to the 3 most promising designs.

Robinson Rubber was able to modify these designs creatively and quickly for the final “fine tuning” to deliver the optimal component. In just 3 weeks’ time, it worked. And three months after starting their work together, Robinson Rubber had completed the mold design and testing and was in production with the final design. Finished parts were $5.87 each, not the $15-$20 estimated by the other firms. Robinson Rubber has now been supplying tens of thousands of these coupling devices per year without one field failure. And, rather than having to perform secondary operations to add heat- and ozone-protection to the device, Robinson Rubber developed a rubber formulation that in essence self-coats after molding. “This part came off our line ready for installation without the need to dip it, coat it or treat it with any other chemicals to give it robust ozone and heat-resistance”, says Jay Beck, President of Robinson Rubber.

In the end, Robinson Rubber showed engineering creativity to solve a problem quickly, with optimal engineering design, lower cost and high continuous quality.

Using up to 20 engineering grade polymers and more than 2,000 unique formulations, Robinson Rubber works with you to deliver the best rubber solution possible. Let us develop a proprietary custom formula for you using our in-house compound formulation and mixing capabilities.

Substrate materials include acetal, aluminum, brass, bronze, carbon steel, copper, ductile iron, fabric reinforcement, glass-filled composites, mineral-filled composites, nylon, PEEK, PES, phenolics, PTFE, PVDF and stainless steel. Molding an appropriate rubber gasket, support, seal, o-ring, mount, bushing, cover, wheel or other part directly to your part delivers an integral part that is less likely to leak, crack or otherwise fail in the field. Bondable substrates include single or multiple component substrates that are die cast, injection molded, stamped, waterjet cut, CNC machined or wire formed. “We can also bond rubber-tometal-to-plastic-to-fabric combinations. Providing sophisticated bonded assemblies of high quality is our specialty, with over 70% of our rubber being bonded to substrates,” says Beck. “This process delivers high performing components to our customers with virtually zero returns.”

Substrate parts include but are not limited to chain pads, conveyor pads, diaphragm assemblies, electrical insulators, ground spool valves, impellers, inflatable butterfly valve seats, motor mounts, non-invasive medical devices, power drive assemblies, sanding disks, special wheels, valve assemblies, vibration isolators and vibration mounts.

If you are an engineer struggling with trying to come up with components that will perform multiple functions in challenging conditions, check out rubber’s capability to bond to a variety of substrates, eliminate parts and lower assembly costs. A Polymer and Material Selection Guide is also available.

To learn more, email sales@robinsonrubber.com, visit www.robinsonrubber.com, or call toll free 1-877-619-5825 or 763-535-6737 for more information.

The original pinch valves were cracking during herbicide and fertilizer spraying causing a big, leaking mess.

Minneapolis, Minn.—Robinson Rubber Products, a designer, developer and manufacturer of custom-molded rubber products, extruded rubber products and precision rollers, has several new capabilities to bond molded rubber components to your parts to deliver superior performance. Bonding rubber to your part can also eliminate secondary operations and extra components, plus reduce weight and costs.

A leading manufacturer of agricultural spraying equipment was having trouble with field failures when the rubber tubes with pinch valves that feed the spray nozzles began failing during the peak spraying season. The flanged tubes are opened to allow spraying and the pinch valve is pinched closed to stop the spray. Between the high pressure, aggressive chemicals and pinch cycles, the existing tube was failing during critical planting and fertilizing time, causing chemicals to leak and uncontrollably spray all over. Not only was this making the spraying operation terribly inefficient, it was wasting expensive chemicals and potentially contaminating fertile farmland with high concentrations of liquid compounds. It also unnecessarily exposes people and animals to these chemicals.

Complicating the situation, the company’s current supplier for the tubes could not determine what made some parts fail and other parts not. Each lot was tested and there were passing and failing pieces in every batch, with no consistency. Worse yet, “bad” parts looked the same as “good” parts, so ferreting out bad parts was impossible. Good parts were experiencing 250,000 cycles to failure, bad parts only 10,000. After seeing Robinson Rubber at a local trades show, the spraying equipment manufacturer asked if they could solve the problem.

Robinson Rubber worked on various rubber formulations to deliver longer life to the pinch valve. Imagine the reaction when prototypes delivered 3,000,000 cycles before failure, a twelve-fold improvement! After supplying the redesigned pinch valve for over 15 years, there has not been one field failure.

The one funny twist to this story demonstrates the enormous impact formulations have on product performance. While there were no product failures, pinch valves that sat on a distributor’s shelf for more than a couple months went from shiny jet black to chalky gray. While none of these parts failed, there was a perceived quality issue. When farmers went to routinely change out the pinch valve, and they saw the chalky gray rubber, they thought they were getting old, defective parts.

To eliminate the parts changing from black to gray, chemists at Robinson Rubber ever so slightly tweaked the recipe by changing a small percentage of one of the ingredients. The recipe was changed to 329¾ total parts from 330 parts. This slight change got rid of the chalky residue, but parts now went from 3,000,000 cycles to 10,000 cycles to failure! They were shiny black, but significantly weaker. It’s the mastery of these slight formulation nuances that can make the difference between a great part and a poor one. Soon the gray pinch valves became known in the farming community as the ones that don’t fail, versus the shiny black ones that did. In the end, Robinson Rubber showed engineering creativity to solve a problem quickly, with high quality, lower cost and fast speed.

Using up to 20 engineering grade polymers and more than 2,000 unique formulations, Robinson Rubber works with you to deliver the best rubber solution possible. Let us develop a proprietary custom formula for you using our in-house compound formulation and mixing capabilities.

Substrate materials include acetal, aluminum, brass, bronze, carbon steel, copper, ductile iron, fabric reinforcement, glass-filled composites, mineral-filled composites, nylon, PEEK, PES, phenolics, PTFE, PVDF and stainless steel. Molding an appropriate rubber gasket, support, seal, o-ring, mount, bushing, cover, wheel or other part directly to your part delivers an integral part that is less likely to leak, crack or otherwise fail in the field. Bondable substrates include single or multiple component substrates that are die cast, injection molded, stamped, waterjet cut, CNC machined or wire formed. We can also bond rubber-tometal-to-plastic-to-fabric combinations. “Providing sophisticated bonded assemblies of high quality is our specialty, with over 70% of our rubber being bonded to substrates,” says Jay Beck, President of Robinson Rubber. “This process delivers high performing components to our customers with virtually zero returns,” says Beck.

Substrate parts include but are not limited to chain pads, conveyor pads, diaphragm assemblies, electrical insulators, ground spool valves, impellers, inflatable butterfly valve seats, motor mounts, non-invasive medical devices, power drive assemblies, sanding disks, special wheels, valve assemblies, vibration isolators and vibration mounts.

If you are an engineer struggling with trying to come up with components that will perform multiple functions in challenging conditions, check out rubber’s capability to bond to a variety of substrates, eliminate parts and lower assembly costs. A Polymer and Material Selection Guide is also available.

To learn more, email sales@robinsonrubber.com, visit www.robinsonrubber.com, or call toll free 1-877-619-5825 or 763-535-6737 for more information

Learn if rubber might be your best solution for components in critical applications.

Minneapolis, Minn.—Robinson Rubber Products, a designer, developer and manufacturer of custom-molded rubber products, extruded rubber products and precision rollers, has several new capabilities to bond molded rubber components to your parts to deliver superior performance. Bonding rubber to your part can also eliminate secondary operations and extra components, plus reduce weight and costs.

A prominent manufacturer of paint spray guns was having trouble obtaining the necessary fluid resistance for the gun’s poppet valve, which controls the critical air flow during the spray gun operation. O-rings and other non-bonded seals would slip, move and break down when exposed to the chemicals in the paint, resulting in poor performance. The customer had tried a fluoroelastomer bonded to a stainless steel valve shaft, but they experienced bond failures during testing. Teflon o-rings captured in a steel gland were also tried. While the Teflon provided good chemical resistance, these o-rings proved very problematic in practical application. The rings were installed on the valve during sub-assembly, but due to the fragility of Teflon, an average of 20% of the rings were damaged in the process. This yielded a 20- 30% overall scrap rate, wasted a lot of labor, and yielded an assembly with lingering quality concerns.

Robinson Rubber came up with a solution after a complete redefining of the fluid spectrum to which the poppet valve would be exposed. “Our solution involved a fairly exotic and expensive elastomer, so we employed a cold-pot transfer molding technology. With a material costing more than $200 per pound, our transfer molding tooling provides an assured poppet assembly, while greatly reducing the waste that one would see in all other molding processes,” says Jay Beck, President of Robinson Rubber. “This elastomer holds up to a very broad spectrum of chemicals, but is difficult to successfully bond to the stainless steel poppet stem. After adjusting several mold operations, we achieved a solid bond. Our resulting product has been tested in the most aggressive solvents the guns would see, and the material and bonding perform flawlessly. We’ve been in production now over a year and we have not had one failure,” states Beck.

Not only has the new poppet valve performed well in all the painting operations, but because the elastomer on the poppet valve is so chemical-resistant, the spray guns can be used for a whole new set of applications using ketones, aliphatics, aromatics and other aggressive solvents without leaking. “This ‘better mousetrap’ has allowed our customer to sell these spray guns to boat and bathtub manufacturers who spray fiberglass, and to wind generator blade manufacturers and other OEMs who spray polyesters and polycarbonates. Our customer reports an 80% growth in new market sales,” according to Beck.

Using up to 20 engineering grade polymers and more than 2,000 unique formulations, Robinson Rubber works with you to deliver the best rubber solution possible. Let us develop a proprietary custom formula for you using our in-house compound formulation and mixing capabilities.

Substrate materials include acetal, aluminum, brass, bronze, carbon steel, copper, ductile iron, fabric reinforcement, glass-filled composites, mineral-filled composites, nylon, PEEK, PES, phenolics, PTFE, PVDF and stainless steel. Molding an appropriate rubber gasket, support, seal, o-ring, mount, bushing, cover, wheel or other part directly to your part delivers an integral part that is less likely to leak, crack or otherwise fail in the field. Bondable substrates include single or multiple component substrates that are die cast, injection molded, stamped, waterjet cut, CNC machined or wire formed. We can also bond rubber-to-metal-to-plastic-to-fabric combinations. “Providing sophisticated bonded assemblies of high quality is our specialty, with over 70% of our rubber being bonded to substrates,” says Jay Beck, President of Robinson Rubber. “This process delivers high performing components to our customers with virtually zero returns,” says Beck.

Substrate parts include but are not limited to chain pads, conveyor pads, diaphragm assemblies, electrical insulators, ground spool valves, impellers, inflatable butterfly valve seats, motor mounts, non-invasive medical devices, power drive assemblies, sanding disks, special wheels, valve assemblies, vibration isolators and vibration mounts.

If you are an engineer struggling with trying to come up with components that will perform multiple functions in challenging conditions, check out rubber’s capability to bond to a variety of substrates, eliminate parts and lower assembly costs. A Polymer and Material Selection Guide is also available.

To learn more, email sales@robinsonrubber.com, visit www.robinsonrubber.com, or call toll free 1-877-619-5825 or 763-535-6737 for more information.

Learn if rubber might be your best solution for components in critical applications.

Minneapolis, Minn.—Robinson Rubber Products, a designer, developer and manufacturer of custom-molded rubber products, extruded rubber products and precision rollers, announces it will add four new rubber molding presses to the two it already has.

The six new up-acting compression presses will have faster throughput, greater capacity and deliver more consistent parts. This means better molded rubber parts, faster for less money. Bonding a rubber component to your part can also eliminate secondary operations and extra components, plus reduce weight and costs.

These new presses have three advantages. One, they are large-scale presses so parts can be larger or they can hold additional cavities for greater production capability. Two, with compression clamping forces up to 700 tons, they have tremendous throughput. Three, they have vacuum chambers that drop around the mold. Encasing the mold and pulling a vacuum eliminates the defect potential from air entrapment. The vacuum chamber also creates a stable insulator. Keeping the temperature consistent in the mold during curing adds to a part’s consistency and reduces waste. New automated mold handling rigs on the presses speed up production and improve worker safety. Also, more sophisticated computer control and programs deliver complete repeatability.

Using up to 20 engineering grade polymers and more than 1,500 unique formulations, Robinson Rubber works with you to deliver the best rubber solution possible. Let us develop a proprietary custom formula for you using our in-house compound formulation and mixing capabilities.

“Providing sophisticated bonded assemblies of high quality is our specialty, with over 70% of our rubber being bonded to substrates,” says Jay Beck, President of Robinson Rubber. “This process delivers high performing components to our customers with virtually zero returns,” says Beck.

Substrate parts include but are not limited to chain pads, conveyor pads, diaphragm assemblies, electrical insulators, ground spool valves, impellers, inflatable butterfly valve seats, motor mounts, non-invasive medical devices, power drive assemblies, sanding disks, special wheels, valve assemblies, vibration isolators and vibration mounts.

If you are an engineer struggling with trying to come up with components that will perform multiple functions in challenging conditions, check out rubber’s capability to bond to a variety of substrates, eliminate parts and lower assembly costs. A Polymer and Material Selection Guide is also available.

To learn more, email sales@robinsonrubber.com, visit www.robinsonrubber.com, or call toll free 1-877-619-5825 or 763-535-6737 for more information.

Learn if rubber might be your best solution for components in critical applications.

Minneapolis, Minn.—Robinson Rubber Products, a designer, developer and manufacturer of custom-molded rubber products, extruded rubber products and precision rollers, has a new prototyping service. This service provides a quick, economical way to test designs and ideas in actual working environments—before investing in production molds and tooling.

Prototypes can be completed in 5 to 25 working days depending on part complexity. This unique service is designed to assist customers with product development and selection of appropriate polymers, materials and rubber formulation. Prototyping allows for easy, quick and inexpensive modification of molds and tooling to ensure rubber component design is optimized and production ready.

Using up to 20 engineering grade polymers and more than 1,500 unique formulations, Robinson Rubber works with you to deliver the best rubber solution possible. Let us develop a proprietary custom formula for you using our in-house compound formulation and mixing capabilities.

If you are an engineer struggling with trying to come up with components that will perform multiple functions in challenging conditions, check out rubber’s capability to bond to a variety of substrates, eliminate parts and lower assembly costs. A Polymer and Material Selection Guide is also available.

To learn more, email sales@robinsonrubber.com, visit www.robinsonrubber.com, or call toll free 1-877-619-5825 or 763-535-6737 for more information.

Learn if rubber might be your best solution for components in critical applications.

Minneapolis, Minn.—Robinson Rubber Products, a designer, developer and manufacturer of custom-molded rubber products, extruded rubber products and precision rollers, has several new capabilities to bond molded rubber components to your parts to deliver superior performance. Bonding rubber to your part can also eliminate secondary operations and extra components, plus reduce weight and costs.

Using up to 20 engineering grade polymers and more than 1,500 unique formulations, Robinson Rubber works with you to deliver the best rubber solution possible. Let us develop a proprietary custom formula for you using our in-house compound formulation and mixing capabilities.

Substrate materials include acetal, aluminum, brass, bronze, carbon steel, copper, ductile iron, fabric reinforcement, glass-filled composites, mineral-filled composites, nylon, PEEK, PES, phenolics, PTFE, PVDF and stainless steel. Molding an appropriate rubber gasket, support, seal, o-ring, mount, bushing, cover, wheel or other part directly to your part delivers a integral part that is less likely leak, crack or otherwise fail in the field. Bondable substrates include single or multiple component substrates that are die cast, injection molded, stamped, waterjet cut, CNC machined or wire formed. We can also bond rubber-to-metal-to-plastic-to-fabric combinations. “Providing sophisticated bonded assemblies of high quality is our specialty, with over 70% of our rubber being bonded to substrates,” says Jay Beck, President of Robinson Rubber. “This process delivers high performing components to our customers with virtually zero returns,” says Beck.

Substrate parts include but are not limited to chain pads, conveyor pads, diaphragm assemblies, electrical insulators, ground spool valves, impellers, inflatable butterfly valve seats, motor mounts, non-invasive medical devices, power drive assemblies, sanding disks, special wheels, valve assemblies, vibration isolators and vibration mounts.

If you are an engineer struggling with trying to come up with components that will perform multiple functions in challenging conditions, check out rubber’s capability to bond to a variety of substrates, eliminate parts and lower assembly costs. A Polymer and Material Selection Guide is also available.

To learn more, email sales@robinsonrubber.com, visit www.robinsonrubber.com, or call toll free 1-877-619-5825 or 763-535-6737 for more information.