Sheet in EVA Life Flex 400x400 mm natural

Sheets in EVA Life Flex are soft, elastic boards of ethylene vinyl acetate with a density around 0.93 g/cm³. The material feels almost like a thin cellular rubber in the hand and springs back when you press it. It is exactly that combination of low weight and spring that puts EVA into everything from shoe insoles to vibration damping pads in machine housings.

You get a material that takes a lot of cold. EVA Life Flex does not turn brittle in a freezer room or outdoors in winter, and it takes being bent back and forth without cracking in the folds. The closed cell structure of the sheet shuts out moisture, which makes it work as a gasket in lids, hatches and enclosures where you want a soft sealing surface that still does not soak up water.

The material is food approved in its Life grade. That means the same sheet can be used as an interlayer in transport crates for food, as a shock absorbing base in ready meal packaging, or as padded lining in chilled and frozen display units. Odor and taste transfer is low, which matters as soon as your end product is going to be in contact with people or food.

Typical areas of use in the workshop and in production: shock absorption under sensitive electronics, vibration pads between sheet metal and frame, padded cutouts inside transport cases, gaskets in lids under low and medium load, soft scrapers on material handling equipment. EVA Life Flex is also common as a carrying base in orthopedic and medical products where skin meets the material over long periods.

Machining is uncomplicated. You can die cut the sheet, knife cut it, water jet cut it and bond it with contact adhesives suited to EVA. Heat welding works too. Because the material is soft and slightly elastic the tools want to be sharp; blunt knives tear up a ragged edge instead of cutting clean. In CNC milling you need to keep the feed down so that the material is not pushed aside by the cutter.

The sheet is supplied in standard formats and can be cut to size from your drawing. The thicknesses vary and the choice depends on what you are going to use the sheet for. Thin EVA, 2 to 5 mm, works for gaskets and interlayers. Thicker sheets, from 10 mm and up, are used where you need more shock absorption or where the sheet has to carry weight without being compressed flat.

Remember that EVA is a soft material. That means sharp edges on your mating part can wear on the sheet over time, and that high point loads give lasting deformation. At a continuous operating temperature above 60 degrees you want to look at other options; EVA is a cold to room temperature material at heart.

Do you need help choosing the right EVA grade or thickness? Get in touch and we will check what suits your application. This product, EVA Life Flex 400x400 mm natural, has the format 400x400 mm, which makes it easy to place into an existing structure.