Plastic & Metal Overmoulding
Multiple materials bonded into a single component, engineered to perform as one.
Two materials. One part. Bonded under heat.
Overmoulding integrates rubber with a metal or plastic substrate to form a single engineered part. RDL uses two bonding strategies. Chemical adhesion via Chemlok is the most common: Chemlok bonds to the substrate, then the rubber bonds to the Chemlok layer during the curing phase. Mechanical bonding applies where compression carries the load. Pressed bushes, where rubber is compressed and constrained between two steel sleeves, are the standard example. The choice depends on the application.
The bond stays the same. The spec carries the load.
The bond itself is constant. The substrate, its preparation and the compound spec follow the part and the load it has to hold.
Substrate options
Steel, stainless steel, aluminium, brass, and engineering plastics.
Surface preparation
Cleaned, primed, and treated to specification per substrate.
Bond strategies
Chemical (Chemlok) for most applications, mechanical for compression-loaded parts.
Part complexity
Simple bushes through multi-substrate assemblies.
Engineered as one part, not assembled from two.
Substrate preparation, compound selection, and cure are set together to the application. The customer signs off on the commissioning sample, then production runs unchanged, the same sign-off process as compression-moulded parts.
One part. Two materials. Cured complete.
Overmoulded components from RDL behave as a single engineered part from the moment they leave the press.
Bring us your hardest plastic & metal overmoulding brief.
Tell us about the part, the cycle, and the conditions. We specify the compound, prototype the part and prove it on the bench before it ships.