Can anyone recommend to me a good source of sorbothane? I need it for an experiment which has nothing whatsoever to do with chemistry. Amazon, as
usual, is overpricing everything, and my parents hate EBay with a burning vengeance, so that's out.Ozone - 28-8-2013 at 17:41
Have you considered trying to make your own or some facsimile, thereof? It's trademarked and probably cross-linked, so you would be limited to the
form-factors available for sale.
Cheers,
O3elementcollector1 - 28-8-2013 at 18:54
As far as I know, it's a derivative of polyurethane. I wouldn't even know where to start.bfesser - 28-8-2013 at 18:56
Start by ignoring your parents distrust and misguided hate and use eBay.elementcollector1 - 29-8-2013 at 07:51
Looked around exhaustively there - didn't seem to find anything. Found a relatively cheap source ($26 for a 12"-12"-1/8" sheet), which will work... I
guess.bfesser - 29-8-2013 at 08:04
Can you give any specifics of your application? Perhaps a few discarded mouse pads would suffice.watson.fawkes - 29-8-2013 at 08:13
Can anyone recommend to me a good source of sorbothane?
Did you check the Sorbothane site? They have a list of distributors, which includes McMaster-Carr, who are very easy to deal with.elementcollector1 - 29-8-2013 at 08:46
Can anyone recommend to me a good source of sorbothane?
Did you check the Sorbothane site? They have a list of distributors, which includes McMaster-Carr, who are very easy to deal with.
I'm mainly looking for a sheet of the stuff roughly 1/4" thick, and about 12"square. This site does have a much better deal than what I've seen,
thanks!morganism - 15-9-2013 at 13:32
They sell sheets to orthopedic insert makers, and big sheets to movie stuntmen, for falling down stairs !elementcollector1 - 26-9-2014 at 15:04
Still interested in this (wow, has it really been a year?)
I suppose the most effective route would be to make it myself, then. However, the only preparation I ever found was "mix isocyanate and polyol". What
isocyanate, and what polyol? Does it matter if the end product is essentially polyurethane? I am way too new to polymer chemistry to be able to puzzle
this out.UnintentionalChaos - 26-9-2014 at 15:41
Look, the stuff is a trademarked, probably trade secret polyurethane. Polyurethanes can be soft and spongy or hard as a rock depending on choice of
polyols and diisocyanates. There can be considerable crosslinking since the polyols can be almost anything with two or more alcohol groups on it
including polymers.
I don't see what's wrong with McMaster. It's not the cheapest, but you're never gonna be able to make what you want at home.
Hmm. Right now, I'm working in a polymer science lab studying polyurethane properties - hence my renewed interest.
My problem with McMaster-Carr is that the sorbothane comprises 90% of the current cost of my project, and I definitely want to fix that. Being able to
cast sorbothane into custom shapes would go a long way towards that goal, as some of the shapes I intend the final project to be in are a bit odd, and
cannot be easily approximated with sheets.
