What Is Plastiform?

Plastiform is a two component impression material used for high precision, non destructive quality control in industry.

You mix it, apply it to a part, wait a few minutes, and pull out a solid yet flexible replica, with a micron resolution, that you can measure, inspect, or archive without ever affecting the original piece.

Developed in the early 1980s by Rivelec, a French company founded in 1972 and based near Montpellier, Plastiform was created to solve a specific problem: measuring internal geometries without cutting parts open or pulling them out of assembly. Today it is used in over 80 countries across aerospace, automotive, energy, and many other industries.

In short: Plastiform lets you take a perfect physical copy of any surface, internal or external, in under 10 minutes, with no residue left behind.

Why Plastiform Exists

In many industrial sectors, checking the dimensions or surface finish of a part means destroying it.

You cut a cross section to measure an internal thread. You disassemble an entire system to reach a single bore. You scrap a finished component just to verify a groove depth.

Plastiform avoids all of that.

The material flows into the area you want to inspect, hardens into an exact negative copy, and comes out clean. The original part stays intact and in place.

This matters most for:

• Internal forms: threads, bores, grooves, and cavities you cannot reach with calipers or probes.
• Complex geometries: undercuts, blind holes, and angled surfaces where traditional probes cannot fit.
• Surface inspection: visual or roughness checks on areas hidden from cameras or roughness testers.
• Production lines: quick in process checks without stopping the line or scrapping parts.

How It Works

The process is straightforward once you have done it a couple of times. Every impression follows the same basic sequence:

1. Prepare the surface. Clean the area with DN1 degreaser. Oil, chips, or residues will block the chemical reaction and distort your results. This step is non negotiable.
2. Mix the two components. Plastiform products are bicomponent: a base and a catalyst, kept separate until use. Mix them in equal parts, a 1:1 ratio. For cartridge products, the mixing happens automatically as you extrude through a nozzle For manual putty products, you mix by hand for about 30 seconds.
3. Apply the material. Fluid products pour into internal cavities. Pasty products stick to external or vertical surfaces. Putty products are pressed on by hand.
4. Wait for polymerization. The material hardens through a chemical reaction that takes on average 6 minutes at 20°C for standard products. The exact time is printed on each product label and technical sheet.
5. Extract the impression. Pull out the solid replica. If the shape is complex, the impression deforms on its way out, then springs back to its exact original shape thanks to shape memory.
6. Measure the replica. Use your preferred instrument: profile projector, vision system, roughness tester, or CMM. Non contact measurement is recommended for the most accurate results.

Good to know: The polymerization reaction produces no odor, no heat, and no toxic fumes. You do not need gloves, masks, or dedicated ventilation under normal conditions.

What Makes It Reliable

Plastiform impressions are trusted in industries where a single micron matters. Here is what the material delivers:

Where to Go Next

This page is the starting point. The articles below walk you through each topic in detail.

• -> How to choose the right initial consistency
• -> Understanding final hardness and Shore A values
• -> Why degreasing with DN1 is mandatory
• -> How to calculate the removal constraint
• -> Accessories you will need: guns, injectors, cutters
• -> The Plastiform Finder: answer five questions, get a product recommendation

If you are unsure which product fits your specific application, the Plastiform Finder will walk you through the selection in under a minute. For atypical cases, contact the Rivelec technical team directly through plastiform.info.