As the bedrock of rubber manufacturing, rubber injection molding offers versatility, precision, and repeatability for scalable production. This cost-efficient process generates durable and strong components in simple or complex geometries, even for high-volume orders.
For over half a century, Stern Rubber Company has specialized in high-quality custom molded rubber parts that meet your needs for both performance and budget. Here, we’ll discuss our injection molding abilities and the numerous industrial components that this advanced process can create.
Our Injection Molding Capabilities
At Stern Rubber, we leverage cutting-edge equipment and decades of experience to create custom injection molded components efficiently and with precision. Our process starts with raw, uncured rubber strips. The material enters an injection molding machine through its hopper and progresses into a heated screw chamber. Once the rubber melts, the moving internal screw compresses the material, creating the necessary force to inject the molten rubber into a custom mold cavity.
The rubber takes on the cavity’s shape as it vulcanizes and, once fully cooled at room temperature, the injection molded parts are then ready for finishing. One benefit of rubber injection molding is that molded components require minimal secondary treatments, which also equates to minimal material waste.
To meet the needs of diverse projects, Stern Rubber utilizes a wide range of rubber formulations, including:
- Natural rubber
- Butyl rubber
- Neoprene
- Ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)
- Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR)
- Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR)
- Hydrogenated NBR
Our team offers material selection assistance and design support to help you create a product that will perform as expected, considering factors such as durability, elasticity, and resistance to thermal conditions, chemicals, or abrasion. As an ISO 9001:2015-certified company, we also prioritize quality assurance throughout our injection molding process, and our testing lab gives us numerous testing capabilities to ensure you receive the best product possible.
Custom Molded Rubber Parts
Custom products can often provide a more secure fit or tight seal than off-the-shelf options. To that end, we’ll work closely with you to tailor your rubber parts to your exact specifications. Examples of our custom molded rubber parts include:
- Seals and gaskets that ensure a secure seal for effective equipment leak prevention
- Anti-vibration mounts that absorb vibration to simultaneously safeguard equipment and minimize sound
- Bushings that minimize vibration, insulate components, and serve as a wear-resistant joint for versatile structural and mechanical applications
- Diaphragms for actuators, valves, and pumps that can reliably handle fluctuating pressures
- Sleeves and tubes that provide strong yet flexible solutions for air transfer and fluid systems
Industrial Rubber Products
For industrial applications, some of the molded rubber parts we produce at Stern Rubber include the following:
- Conveyor belts for efficient material handling while standing up to heavy use and wear
- Rollers to facilitate smooth movement and orientation in manufacturing and related tasks
- Seals, boots, hoses, and other automotive components to withstand rugged applications on the road
- Mats and other durable flooring products to enhance comfort and safety in industrial environments
- Seals and O-rings to provide leak prevention and effective seals in industrial systems
- Shock absorbers and dampers to protect industrial equipment from shocks and minimize vibration
Choose Stern Rubber for Your Injection Molding Needs
Stern Rubber is a leader in custom rubber molded parts. Offering rubber injection molding, transfer molding, and compression molding from our three well-equipped facilities in Minnesota, we have the capacity and the expertise to handle anything from a small, custom order for a single part to high-volume industrial projects. Our multi-industry background, customer-focused approach, and commitment to flexible and sustainable manufacturing processes set us apart from the competition.
To learn more about the Stern Rubber difference and our custom rubber injection molding services, contact us today.