Thermoplastic elastomers are copolymers or mixtures of elastomers, which have the ability to undergo large reversible elastic deformations, and thermoplastic polymers. This makes them totally recyclable and allows the final product to be shaped into the desired shapes.
 
In the family of thermoplastic elastomers there are also thermoplastic polyesters and vulcanized thermoplastic elastomers. These compounds are based on chemically bonded or intimately mixed copolymers or based on SEBS (Styrene-Ethylene-Butaliene-Styrene), SBS (Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene), or EPDM (Ethylene-Propylene-Diene-Monomer) rubber together with polymers plastics composed of polyolefins or polyesters.

Thermoplastic copolyesters are made up of block copolymers made up of rigid crystalline segments of polyesters and long-chain amorphous segments, while vulcanized thermoplastics feature rubbers cross-linked by vulcanization.