Visco Gel materials sourcing?

[rd350]

Does anyone know where I could buy that visco gel material used in bunga pads?  Not like the sleeves but like the bunion gel pads inserts but maybe in sheets?  Varying thicknesses options would be a plus.

I have an amazing product idea I need to make some prototypes of, plus it's a product I need!  TIA

[davincisop]

Like this? http://www.gelunited.com/gel-sheets.html

[rd350]

Oooo, this looks better than the ones I found.  Thanks!  I'll call them tomorrow.

[davincisop]

No problem, I'm excited to see what you come up with.

[davincisop]

They have a sampling kit, too, if you want to see the material first. It's $5.

http://www.gelunited.com/custom-gel-sheets/sampling-kit.html

[Query]

What do you want to use it for? Impact reduction for safety, or creating a quick and dirty good boot fit?

I think that gel is often over-hyped.

The physics of gel isn't what many people assume. If the gel can move, it provides little resistance to compression, and does not provide much impact reduction. If there is no place for it to move, it acts like an incompressible fluid, and again provides little or no reduction of impact, though it spreads out the impact the same way as anything that fits you does. A foam - preferably a closed cell foam - may work better for impact reduction, especially if it has been shaped to fit you, because air and other gasses are compressible. So does bubble wrap, for the same reason. Gel is also fairly heavy.

I tried using squishy gel insoles inside skates. My personal conclusion was that in normal shoes, where delicate balance usually doesn't matter, they nicely mold to your feet, but with the delicate control and balance issues of figure skating, excessive squishiness isn't desirable.

[riley876]

The physics of gel isn't what many people assume. If the gel can move, it provides little resistance to compression, and does not provide much impact reduction. If there is no place for it to move, it acts like an incompressible fluid, and again provides little or no reduction of impact, though it spreads out the impact the same way as anything that fits you does. A foam - possibly a closed cell foam - may work better for impact reduction, because air and other gasses are compressible. So does bubble wrap.

I've impact tested bubble wrap.  It's AWFUL.  Don't even consider it for anything but packaging very light goods.  Its load capacity is way to small for anything human.

Gel is only good for spreading impact around bony protrusions.   But it's not good at absorbing impact energies,  because it doesn't actually compress.   But for hip pads this is what you want,  because the total impact energy isn't the biggest problem, the problem is when it concentrates on a bony protrusion.   In fact the total impact energy of a full body fall is so large, no reasonably sized foam hip pad could possibly be expected to absorb it.   So you have to have your muscles do that.

Another option for gel like things is D3O.  It's a rate sensitive polyurethane that works like a gel.   I don't think they sell it in sheets though.  But there's plenty of finished products out there that use it.

[rd350]

Ah yes I saw those sample packs and I'd like to try different thicknesses so it's perfect!

This is not really for "impact" purposes @query but good info!  Thanks.