Material selection is a critical part of product development, whether your need relates to insulation, damping, protection, or sealing. Among hundreds of options, you don’t have to navigate alone.
- Material selection begins with customer-specific requirements, ensuring the right insulation, sealing, damping, or protection solution based on use environment, performance needs, and production constraints.
- NMC Cellfoam provides an extensive material portfolio, including 600–700 different foam, rubber, fiber, and felt options, and can source custom materials thanks to a flexible global supplier network.
- Engineering support ensures optimal material–design compatibility, with experts reviewing drawings, tolerances, densities, adhesives, and installation surfaces to ensure reliable and cost-effective production.
- Sustainable material options are increasingly prioritized, with lower‑carbon and recycled-content alternatives available, backed by full EU chemical compliance and transparent supply‑chain responsibility.
- Cost‑efficient design reduces waste and improves manufacturability, optimizing material usage, batch production methods, and installation workflow—especially for high‑volume manufacturing.
Requirements vary greatly across industries and applications. Some applications require strict fire classification or carbon footprint compliance, while others focus on aesthetics or production volumes. With NMC Cellfoam’s experienced engineers, you’ll always find the optimal solution for your application.
How does material selection happen?
“Design is the sum of many factors. We always start with the product itself – where it will ultimately be used and what is required of it,” says product engineer Tuula Vilkka at NMC Cellfoam, Finland.
“We map out the requirements, manufacturability, price, quality aspects, and delivery time. We align these to achieve the best possible solution for the customer’s need.”
Extensive Material Range and Strong Supplier Network
The versatile properties of foam plastics enable solutions for almost all industries. Alongside foams and sponge rubbers, we also utilize various fiber and felt materials, as well as other technical materials. There are about 600–700 raw material types alone. Many fiber-based materials can also be thermoformed into the desired shape, expanding their application possibilities.
Sometimes the needs are so specific that no ready-made material is immediately available.
“For example, if a product needs to be both heat-formable and withstand temperatures of two to three hundred degrees Celsius. In such cases, we start by exploring suitable options from our existing suppliers, and, if necessary, from new ones,” explains Toni Nieminen, product engineer at NMC Cellfoam, Finland.
“We are not tied to any specific supplier or manufacturer, so we can source completely customer-specific materials if needed.”
We Help Align Materials and Designs
Our product engineers ensure that the chosen material fits the customer’s drawings and performs as expected. Foams have their own behaviors that must be considered already in the design phase.
“This is why we carefully review the customer’s drawings and dimensions and make necessary adjustments. Typically, we check dimensional tolerances and manufacturability if the material properties don’t match the original design one-to-one,” Vilkka explains.
Our engineers also assist in defining the required material density and ensuring compliance with standard classifications. Many choose adhesive backing for attachment, but the properties of different options are not always familiar.
“Our expertise includes knowing which adhesive tapes work with which materials. We also check the installation surface; whether it’s powder-coated steel, plastic, or wood,” Nieminen describes.
Growing Importance of Sustainability as Environmental Requirements Tighten
Sustainability is increasingly reflected in material choices. “We can offer options with a smaller carbon footprint,” Vilkka says. “Many material categories now include alternatives with a higher proportion of recycled raw material.”
We also ensure responsibility in the supply chain and comply with EU chemical legislation. Our designated responsible person ensures that customers receive all necessary information and documentation related to material choices.
Good Design Saves Costs
Our engineers weigh the price-quality ratio of materials to benefit the customer. Sometimes a more affordable option is sufficient, while other times the application requires a higher-quality material, or a more refined surface.
“We always aim to design and arrange material blanks so that waste is minimized. This also benefits the customer in terms of price,” Nieminen says.
“Order quantity and product geometry greatly affect how a part should be made. What makes sense for a batch of 100 pieces may not be cost-effective when producing thousands,” he summarizes.
Our designers are also happy to help streamline installation. “If the customer is doing mass production, they don’t have time to peel off adhesive backing paper from each insulation piece for minutes, especially with gloves on,” Nieminen points out.
Tested Materials for Every Need
NMC Cellfoam’s large engineering team gives our customers an advantage right from the start of the project. “We invest in engineering support and in providing not only quality but also a customer-friendly experience from the very beginning,” Nieminen emphasizes.
We actively monitor material development and assess the suitability of new options for different applications. This allows us to offer customers up-to-date solutions that are high-quality, safe, and practically tested.
Vilkka and Nieminen encourage customers to contact NMC Cellfoam already at the early stages of a project.
“You can come to us with just a problem, even if you haven’t had time to analyze it yet. We’ll succeed together,” Nieminen concludes.
