What is a TPU material? is Silicone Better Than Thermoplastic Polyurethane phone cases?

ifixeverything
5 min readJan 6, 2021

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TPU phone case is a group of thermoplastic elastomers with good elasticity and resistance to stresses like abrasion and oil lubricants. The TPU material structure consists of soft and hard segments linked together in the chain. But what about silicone? One of the most popular materials for iPhone cases is silicone is a popular material for iPhone cases which is often recognized for its durability.

The rubber-like material obviously won’t break, chip, or shatter when dropped. Liquids wipe off easily, and it’s even fire resistant (although testing this with your iPhone is not recommended).

The flexibility of silicone ensures it fits snugly with your phone, and designs vary from ultra-thin to thick. It’s the only drawback is that silicone is slightly susceptible to tearing, but not usually from everyday wear and tear.

What is the TPU material?

TPU stands for Thermoplastic Polyurethane, which is an engineering polymer material with superior performance. The particularities of this material are its resistance and its flexibility (Shore A 88). Thanks to the unique properties of this material, this thermoplastic is offering a lot of different possibilities for designers, engineers, and manufacturers.

This material is made to meet industry-specific quality standards. Our flexible TPU offers versatility and great mechanical properties. You will be able to manufacture strong and durable performance parts, combined with excellent surface quality and level of detail.

This Thermoplastic Polyurethane material can be used for many different applications and its unique characteristics make it a perfect fit for serial production. All parts requiring the use of a rubber-like elasticity or flexible lattices can easily be 3D printed with this material.

Is TPU or Silicone case best for me?

Whichever material you choose for your iPhone, consider the following to help pick the perfect one:

Durability — Are you carrying your iPhone to a construction zone every day, or mainly to the office? Do you care about preserving the case itself, or do you mainly want something to personalize your iPhone?

Design — Too many, their iPhone is an accessory as well as a tool. Both materials offer plenty of variety and a chance to show off your iPhone and make a statement.

But don’t forget to also consider the feel of the case in your hand. If you’re prone to drops, grippy silicone may be the choice for you. But if you have a stand-out design in mind, smooth and sleek TPU is probably the way to go.

Pricing — Thankfully, both silicone and TPU iPhone cases are moderately priced. But it’s just as important to consider how much you’re willing to invest in protecting your iPhone (or alternatively, how much you’re willing to replace a shattered screen).

Silicone vs TPU? No matter your choice, remember that any of our cases guarantee better protection for your iPhone and make it less vulnerable to everyday damage. Whether you view your iPhone as a necessary tool or your favorite toy, an iPhone case is a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to keep it safe.

Why are we choosing these two items?

Now, what was the reason for using only the two of these in the comparison? Aren’t there other products that can be used for phone protection? We have searched and found out that no other product has been able to provide great protection to mobile phones other than these two.

Items like pouches, covers, and other plastic covers have not been the least satisfying for mobile phone users. So in short, these two items were proved to be the most satisfying for mobile phone users. Therefore, we have taken these two items.

Reason for comparing these two items:

Well, actually there has been a great rivalry going on now a day between these two products that which one is better in providing protection to the mobile phones.

Some are trusting silicone cases while some are going in favor of TPU cases. So, we started thinking to make a quick comparison between these two. Also will also find out soon which item is better by doing a detailed analysis of both items and by discussing their pros and cons.

Pros and Cons for Silicone Cases:

Advantages:

  • Silicone cases are made from a soft material so the buttons that are covered by the case can be easily pressed by the user while, hard cases are at a disadvantage at this point.
  • The best advantage of silicone cases is that they come in a big variety of designs and patterns. Even there are stores in which costumers can design their own designs for silicon cases
  • Silicone cases are temperature resistant. This gives them a dual advantage. On one side they protect a phone from collisions on the other side they also protect the phones from burning.

Disadvantages:

  • Silicone cases carry static electricity with them, so they carry dirt particles with them. This thing makes them dirty all the time.
  • Silicone cases have a big disadvantage in that they get loose with time and the grip to hold the phone is reduced so mostly, prolonged used silicone cases have very less grip and they mostly lose the phone.
  • Silicone cases don’t provide greater protection as compared to hard cases like metal ones. These cases can be easily punctured with sharp objects.

Pros and cons of TPU Material

Advantages:

  • TPU cases are hard plastic material to the main thing they provide is protection and safety. These cases are unbreakable. This thing is absent in the case of silicone cases.
  • TPU materials have an advantage in that they cover a large area of the phone that increases the protection. Most TPU cases cover all the buttons of the phone too.
  • TPU cases are great as far as grip is concerned. No matter how harshly we treat them, these cases will never lose grip of the phone while this is a disadvantage in the case of silicone cases.
  • TPU material is environment friendly. i.e. they cause no pollution in the environment. They are bio-degradable materials that are friendly to the environment.

Disadvantages:

  • TPU cases are protective cases therefore we can see that these cases are thick and they make the phone bulky which is not good.
  • TPU material has the main disadvantage that these cases are expensive as compared to Silicone cases and this is the main factor that backs them.

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