How do you select a profile material?
Four questions almost always lead to the right candidate:
- Rigid or soft? Carrying and guiding demands rigid materials (PVC-U, PP, ABS, PA). Sealing and damping demands soft ones (PVC-P, TPU, TPV, TPS, EVA, LD-PE).
- Which temperatures, for how long? Continuous heat above 60 °C rules out standard PVC; PP, TPV or TPU take over. Cold flexibility favours EVA or TPE.
- Which media, which weather? Oils, cleaners, UV radiation: every environment removes candidates from the list or demands stabilisation.
- What must the surface do? Visual quality (ABS), sliding (HD-PE, PA, slip coating) or grip (TPS, EVA).
Answer two of these questions and the selection usually shrinks to two or three materials. Consulting settles the rest, with samples where needed.
The material matrix: 11 materials at a glance
All eleven materials of the documented Heller processing range with character, typical hardness, rough continuous temperature range and typical profile applications:
| Material | Character | Hardness (typical) | Temperature (continuous, approx.) | Typical profile applications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PVC-U | rigid, stiff, flame-retardant, economical | rigid | -15 to +60 °C | window, construction, clamping and cover profiles, cable ducts |
| PVC-P | flexible, widely adjustable | 25–90 Shore A | up to +60 °C | sealing lips, edge protection, soft component in co-extrusion |
| PP | light, stiff, chemically resistant | rigid | 0 to +100 °C | technical profiles, living hinges, equipment building |
| ABS | impact-resistant, premium visible surfaces | rigid | -40 to +85 °C | furniture, housing and visible profiles |
| HD-PE | tough, low-friction, chemically resistant | rigid, tough | -40 to +80 °C | slide strips, guides, wear profiles |
| LD-PE | soft-flexible, tough | soft, pliable | -40 to +60 °C | flexible protection and edge profiles |
| PA | strong, abrasion-resistant, low-friction | rigid | -40 to +85 °C | slide and guide profiles, wear strips |
| TPU | elastic, extremely abrasion-resistant | 60 Shore A to 80 Shore D | -40 to +120 °C | wipers, damping profiles, hoses |
| TPV | rubber-like, permanently elastic, weatherproof | 40 Shore A to 70 Shore D | -60 to +135 °C | window, door and equipment seals |
| TPS | very soft to medium-hard, soft touch | 30 Shore 00 to 60 Shore D | up to +80 °C | sealing lips, grip zones, co-extrusion on ABS |
| EVA | highly flexible, cold-impact-resistant, damping | soft | cold-flexible, type-dependent | damping and anti-slip profiles |
Orientation values from material engineering sources (documentation: research/FACHWISSEN-EXTRUSION.md); temperature and hardness figures vary by grade and compound. Binding is the application-specific design in the project.
What does Shore hardness tell you?
Shore hardness measures how deep a standardised indenter penetrates the material: the higher the value, the harder the material. Two scales matter for profiles. Shore A describes soft to medium-hard elastomers; sealing lips typically sit between roughly 40 and 90 Shore A. Shore D describes hard elastomers and thermoplastics. As anchors: a soft rubber band sits around 40 Shore A, a shoe heel around 70 Shore A, a hard-shell suitcase in the Shore D range.
In a dual-hardness compound we combine both worlds: carrier in the rigid range, sealing lip as soft as the function demands. We prefer settling the exact hardness on a sample.
Which special treatments exist?
Independent of the base material, Heller processes special compounds with five documented treatments: UV-protected for sun-exposed applications, fungicide-treated against mould in wet areas, with slip coating for moving contact surfaces, UL 94 V-0 listed for flammability requirements of the electrical industry and antistatically treated for ESD-sensitive environments. Details on the manufacturing page.
