What are the disadvantages of TPE casters?

Main Disadvantages of TPE Casters
Although TPE casters offer significant advantages in terms of environmental friendliness, shock absorption, and floor-friendliness, they still have significant shortcomings in specific scenarios due to the material's inherent physical and chemical properties. Specific disadvantages are as follows:

First. Limited high-temperature resistance and susceptibility to high-temperature environments
The typical upper operating temperature limit for TPE is approximately 125°C. Even modified, heat-resistant TPEs typically have an upper limit of 150°C, far lower than metal, ceramic, or high-temperature resins. If exposed to high temperatures for extended periods (such as near industrial furnaces or ovens, or in unshaded, outdoor, high-temperature areas during the summer), the TPE wheel body can soften and deform, even sticking to the ground, increasing rolling resistance and preventing smooth movement. Short-term contact with extremely hot objects (such as slag splashes or hot metal debris) can also cause surface melting, structural damage, and loss of load-bearing capacity. Therefore, TPE casters are extremely unsuitable for high-temperature industrial applications such as metallurgy, casting, and high-temperature baking.

Second, TPE lacks strong corrosion resistance and cannot withstand extreme chemical environments.
While TPE can withstand ordinary water, steam, and mildly corrosive media (such as diluted neutral detergents and alcohol), its stability deteriorates significantly when exposed to highly polar solvents, concentrated acids, and alkalis. For example, when exposed to substances such as concentrated hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide solution, gasoline, and diesel, these highly corrosive components penetrate the TPE molecular structure, causing the wheel to rapidly swell and crack, and even surface shedding, exposing the load-bearing skeleton. Long-term exposure to environments containing strong chemical volatiles (such as certain reagent rooms in chemical plants) accelerates TPE aging, causing it to lose elasticity, become hard, and become brittle and crack. This shortcoming makes it unsuitable for highly corrosive environments such as chemical processing and electroplating.

Third, TPE has weak high-strength load-bearing capacity, making it unsuitable for heavy equipment.
TPE is inherently less hard and rigid than metal, polyurethane (PU), or nylon. Even with formulation modifications to increase hardness (such as adding glass fiber reinforcement), the rated load capacity of a single wheel is generally within 200-300 kg, making it difficult to meet the requirements of heavy equipment. If forced to carry extremely heavy loads (such as carts transporting tons of metal parts or mobile stands for heavy industrial machine tools), the TPE wheel can deform under long-term pressure, resulting in permanent dents and even fractures at the wheel-to-stand connection, posing a safety risk of equipment tipping. Therefore, in high-load-bearing applications like heavy machinery and large-scale warehouse logistics (such as heavy-duty rack carts), TPE casters are often replaced with more wear-resistant and pressure-resistant materials such as polyurethane (PU) and cast iron.

Fourth: Weaker wear resistance than specialized wear-resistant materials, prone to wear on rough surfaces

While conventional TPE casters can withstand the daily wear and tear of smooth surfaces, their wear resistance still lags behind that of polyurethane (PU), nylon, or cast iron. On rough, impure surfaces (such as unpolished concrete, construction site gravel, and workshop floors littered with metal debris), TPE casters are easily scratched by sharp impurities, resulting in scratches or dents. Over time, these scratches gradually expand, causing the wheel to become uneven. This not only increases rolling noise and resistance, but also accelerates wheel aging and shortens its service life. Therefore, TPE casters lack durability in harsh environments like construction and heavy machinery maintenance.

In summary, the shortcomings of TPE casters lie in their suitability for extreme environments and high-stress applications. When choosing TPE casters, avoid high temperatures, severe corrosion, heavy loads, and rough surfaces to maximize their advantages and avoid problems caused by their shortcomings.