What is Sorbotane?
Sorbothane®, a one-of-a-kind visco elastic polymer, was first introduced in 1982. Primary applications included the development of shock absorbing insoles for the athletic and orthopedic markets. Manufactured in the heart of the “polymer valley” in Kent, Ohio, Sorbothane® quickly gained worldwide recognition for its ability to achieve remarkable shock absorbing levels, near perfect shape memory and excellent acoustic dampening capabilities.
Sorbothane is so much more than just a polyurethane rubber. It has been designed to offer the absolute best vibration absorbing characteristics. This means that it is actually what is called a "visco-elastic polymer." This fancy term means that it has characteristics of both a liquid and a solid. Think of the ideal vibration isolation situation, it would probably involve a material that could significantly deflect and deform to smoothly absorb all impact and vibration energy, much like a thick liquid syrup. But syrup wouldn't work well for long because it wouldn't hold it's shape, so the ideal material would also need to have shape memory, like memory foam. But all foam rubber is made with millions of tiny bubbles in it. Over time these bubble pop and wear out causing the material to become less effective and fall apart. So the ideal material would be a solid rubber with perfect shape memory and a fluid like feel. That is what Sorbothane is.
If you touch Sorbothane you will notice that it feels soft like the palm of our hand. It feels this way because it was actually modeled on possibly the best impact absorbing part of the human body, the soft flesh of your heel. It has very similar characteristics to this natural anti-vibration pad. When you run or walk, the impact energy of your foot on the ground is smoothly absorbed by your foot and heel. If you took a ball of Sorbothane and dropped it on the ground it would only return one tiny bounce before coming to rest. Compare that to a ball made of normal urethane rubber or foam which will return a bounce at least half as high as the original bounce height and then continue to bounce for a long time.
That comparison is the true secret to why Silent Feet washing machine and dryer pads continue to be the number one most effective product. All other rubber pads no matter what material they are made of, even fancy and expensive metal platforms with springs all will cause a violent and strong rebound force. Any time your washing machine is installed on those inferior pads the vibration will amplify and spread. Just like if you dribble a tennis ball with a racket, the ball retains more energy than is dissipates. So make the right choice today and install Silent Feet or Anti-Walk Silent Feet under your washing machine to see a dramatic reduction in vibration and noise. The Sorbothane rubber in your set of Silent Feet pads will continue working just as hard 10 years from now as it will on day 1 to absorb and smoothly dissipate spin cycle vibration.
Since its introduction, 32 years ago, Sorbothane® has been used in many varied energy absorbing product categories. Sorbothane Inc. engineers supplied the NASA design team with a unique Sorbothane® isolator to protect shuttle cameras from the violent forces thrust upon them during launch. The Liberty Bell was successfully moved using specially designed Sorbothane® isolators. When Wilson® Sporting Goods needed a superior shock absorber, for their new line of high-tech baseball gloves, they turned to Sorbothane®.
Sorbothane®, a proprietary visco elastic material, is custom molded and specified by engineers worldwide for its superior damping and isolation properties and scientifically proven to be the finest cushioning material available. In many applications and laboratory tests Sorbothane® has achieved shock absorption levels of up to 94.7%. Unprecedented absorption levels are possible because Sorbothane® maintains stability and damping over a broad temperature range, enabling it to isolate damaging vibrations and impact shock in varied conditions. Its near faultless memory ensures a return to original shape, even after repeated compressions, making Sorbothane® ideal for a variety of engineering design applications requiring shock absorption, vibration isolation and acoustical damping.
NASA used Sorbothane to vibration-isolate cameras on the Space Shuttle. NASA uses Sorbothane to vibration isolate pumps on the International Space Station. NASA is using Sorbothane to vibration/shock mount electronics on new rockets and spacecraft like the ORION mission. Sorbothane has also been included on Nanosat projects. It is perfect for space applications due to it's excellent vibration isolation from small amounts of rubber which reduces the weight of devices.So if NASA can trust Sorbothane for their vibration isolation can’t you?
Sorbothane also produces a variety of isolators, pads, sheet stock, hemispheres, o-rings, grommets, bumpers and tools. Click here to view their full line of standard products. The Sorbothane Soft-blow Mallet is now available for purchase on Amazon.com.
WE CURRENT STOCK THE FOLLOWING SORBOTHANE HEMISPHERES
- 3/4" Sorbothane Hemisphere - 50 Duro - 16 Pack
- 1" Sorbothane Hemisphere - 50 Duro - 8 Pack
- 1.25" Sorbothane Hemisphere - 50 Duro - 8 Pack
- 1.5" Sorbothane Hemisphere - 50 Duro - 4 Pack
- 2" Sorbothane Hemisphere - 50 Duro - 4 Pack
- 2.5" Sorbothane Hemisphere - 50 Duro - 4 Pack
These products are also available on www.IsolateIt.com. The Vibration Solution is now offering custom engineered vibration solutions to your unique situation or application, contact us to find out more and check back soon for further updates.
The Vibration Solution will soon offer additional products for vibration isolation and noise dampening from Sobrothane Inc. Sorbothane produces a wide variety of industrial mounts and isolators.
We are also proud to offer Shock Tape, a great new product from The Vibration Solution that uses only the best Sorbothane materials to create the most advanced and cushioning grip tape ever. No other cushion tape will be able to match the level of comfort and shock reduction. This new tape is designed as an under-wrap so you can continue to use your favorite grip tape. This tape is perfect for baseball bats, tennis rackets, bicycle handlebars, lacrosse sticks, tools and many other applications. It virtually eliminates all sting and pain when using aluminum and composite bats. Shock Tape is available for sale from www.ShockTape.com, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk.