The difference between PE foam and PU foam

The essential difference between PE and PU is the raw material for foaming, PE foam raw material for polyethylene, which is a common and cheap industrial material; and PU foam foaming material is polyurethane, a polymer compound. 1937 by O. Bayer and other producers of this material. Polyurethane has two major categories: polyester and polyether. They can be made into polyurethane plastic (mainly foam), polyurethane fiber, polyurethane rubber, and elastomer.

Polyethylene: Polyethylene (PE for short) is a thermoplastic resin made by the polymerization of ethylene. In industry, it also includes copolymers of ethylene and a small amount of alpha-olefin. Polyethylene is odorless, non-toxic, feels like wax, has excellent low-temperature resistance (the lowest use temperature can reach -100 ~ -70 ° C), good chemical stability, can resist the erosion of most acids and bases (not resistant to acids with oxidizing properties). Insoluble in general solvents at room temperature, small water absorption, excellent electrical insulation

Polyurethane: soft polyurethane (PU) mainly has a thermoplastic linear structure, it has better stability, chemical resistance, resilience, and mechanical properties than PVC foam, with less compression variability. It has good thermal insulation, sound insulation, shock resistance, and anti-toxic properties. Therefore, it is used as packaging, sound insulation, and filtering material.

Rigid PU plastic is light, has sound insulation, superior thermal insulation performance, chemical resistance, good electrical properties, easy processing, and a low water absorption rate. It is mainly used in construction, automobile, aviation industry, and structural materials for heat insulation.
Polyurethane elastomer performance between plastic and rubber, oil resistance, wear resistance, low-temperature resistance, aging resistance, high hardness, and elasticity. It is mainly used in the shoe industry and medical industry. Polyurethane can also be made into adhesives, coatings, synthetic leather, etc.

PE results in a porous structure, in cutting thick obviously can see a large number of pores on the side, while the PU material is a cellular structure, a microporous structure, the naked eye is almost invisible.

PE because of the large pores in the process of use by the pressure of the thickness change is relatively large, while PU is a microporous structure, in the process of use by the pressure and not much change, can better play a protective effect. PU can also produce slow rebound, fast rebound, high elasticity, and hard, which is also what PE can not do.