Does this material exist?

You answered your own question a rubber compound possibly with an aluminium oxide filler. This will wear well and provide the friction you want. Vulconised rubber will allow the hardness to be controlled.

I've read your posts before, Brainwave. Do you have any finesse at all? Really. Any social graces? Anything at all? (other than a big mouth coupled with a profound aversion to spell checkers?)

Brainwave is absolutely right.

Fit Alumina loaded Vulcanized Rubber tips into a pair of Steel Tongs.

Else ---Cowhide tips.

These may wear-but are cheap . Throw away &fix another with Superglue.

Why worry about Spell Check?

Brevity is the soul of wit.

And finesse is the soul of grace. His reply was characteristically abrupt and rude.

-e

I found Brainwave's reply to-the-point, useful, and sufficiently cordial. Wow, some people have really thin skins.

FYI. To set the record straight, I was the original poster (but wasn't logged in at the time). I didn't post the comments about it being "rude". I found Brainwave's response useful and not at all offensive...

Thanks,
Mike

How is this gripper used? How much weight must it deal with? Is it picking up objects? Sliding them from one place to another? Etc. Can you describe your application in more detail?

-e

Sure. It's picking up an aluminum casting about 12 lbs. The casting has an uneven gate on it that varies in shape a lot. The casting has been quenched, so it's not hot anymore. Would like something to grip around the uneven surface. If you need more info, just post back. Sorry I haven't checked this in a few days...

Thanks for your help.

Mike

Several people suggested "rubber", which covers a pretty wide area. Perhaps an "elastomer" would be a better search category. For example, either polyurethane TPUs (thermoplastic polyurethane), which can be thermally formed, or a 2k castable reactive polyurethane, mixed as a 2k liquiid and cast, would be an excellent material. Either should outwear "rubber" by a wide margin, do not require plasticizers, can be highly filled, etc. The polyurethanes range in hardness from permanently tacky to well over 80 Shore D durometer. The polyurethanes can also be obtained as foam with a wide range of density. For example, Nike et al used to use a low density polyurethane foam for insoles and a higher density polyurethane foam for the soles and heels. They may still do so.You likely are familiar with polyurethane foams in mattresses and furniture. But they can also be quite hard and firm, especially as a microcellular PU. Typical polyurethane elastomers in your application would likely outwear the metal, not adhere to the items being gripped or handled, and are available in both aromatic and aliphatic formulations, both as TPUs or 2k reactive systems. Some companies also make special grades of TPUs such as polycarbonate based aliphatic TPUs and 2k systems which resist hydrolysis and metal ion oxidation, etc. Medical devices made from these high quality polyurethanes are used as implants inside the human body, as artificial heart membranes, and so on. A typical PU membrane would likely be flexed 1,000,000 times before use in the body, to check for any failure. If you have access to a Chemical Week Buyers Guide you will find a listing of a lot of polyurethane suppliers.

Check with McMaster.com It can be a difficult site to navigate the first couple times before you get the hang of it (You pretty much have to know exactly what category your product is going to be under, and some of the more specific products are located counter-intuitively) Basically, for rubber, just scroll down to the very bottom of the page, on the right hand side look for "Raw Materials" > "Rubber and Foam Rubber" and browse. There are many different kinds of rubber, each one with fairly detailed descriptions, from applications in straightforward terms down to tensile and durometer ratings. If you've got some spare change they also have "sample packs" of their different materials, if you want a hands-on kind of testing. I'm sure there are others out there too but this is the site I deal with for my job and for most of my personal projects.

Hope this helps!