very soft rubbers

[gearman12]

Looking for a very soft rubber for an unusual application. It should be about as hard as the very stretchy animal toys, or the "velvet slime ball" stretch toy. Don't know the exact hardness should be, till I try it in the application, but I am guessing it should be no more than shore A 10, prob. closer to shore OO 30 or so.

It doesn't need any special qualities, such as certain temperature or oil resistance, high tensile strength, or anything like that. Just needs to be soft that bounces back quickly, and low cost. What type of materials should I be looking at? Does anyone know what the "velvet slime anemone" toys are made from? It seems like that or the stretchy toys material shouldn't be very expensive, given the cheap price of those toys. Thanks!

 

[Compositepro]

Many of the really soft rubbery toys are plasticized PVC with a high plasticizer content (also called flexible PVC).

Silicone rubbers can be formulated to be very soft but are much more expensive. These are used to make printing pads that can conform to and print on golf balls (also breast implants).

 

[gearman12]

Thanks, that is very useful. Do you know if TPR a similar material, or is it different cost or characteristic wise?

 

[Metten]

High rebound and very soft will be hard to find or formulate. (bouncing balls have a decent hardness)
Silicones were my first idea too, but can be expensive.