Prime elastomer producers are focusing on creating new products to fulfill the increasing requirements from the market. They have developed unconventional, sustainable alternative materials, bringing new opportunities abound across a spectrum of industries. 

Latest TPE solutions for diverse applications 

At CHINAPLAS 2024, KRAIBURG TPE (Booth: 7.2K42) highlight its latest TPE solutions suitable for diverse applications, including automotive, consumer electronics, packaging, medical, and more.

For example, KRAIBURG TPE offers safe materials for cosmetic and food packaging. The materials meet international standards such as EU Directive No. 10/2011, FDA CFR, Title 21, EN 71/3 regulations, China GB 4806:2016, as well as REACH, SVHC and RoHS. 

Besides, the company’s THERMOLAST H for healthcare and medical applications meet stringent international standards such as ISO 10993-5 and GB/T16886.5 for cytotoxicity. This exclusively designed TPE for the Asia Pacific market is used in a wide range of applications such as medical devices, syringe gasket, medical resealing, etc. 

KRAIBURG TPE’s Asia Pacific Sustainability TPE solutions comprise up to 48% post-consumer recycled (PCR) and 50% post-industrial recycled (PIR) content. 

VECTOR medical solution of TSRC Corporation (Booth: 6.2C02) has introduced a TPE grade, which was designed for medical stoppers and features rapid self-sealing properties. This innovation mitigates the challenge posed by existing materials that are prone to leakage. The final products have features such as zero fragment residue, easy puncture, and recyclability. 

In addition, VECTOR SEBS 8245 is suitable for IV bag and IV tubing as transparent medical solutions. The designed structure provides good compatibility with PP at various ratio to fulfill desired properties such as high flowability, printability and flexibility, as well as good sealing strength. The material is compliant with USP class VI test and ISO 10993-5 cytotoxicity test to prove the reliability of medical products.

TSRC Corporation’s VECTOR SEBS solution is designed for medical applications.

AudiaFlex family from Audia Elastomers (Booth: 6.2A86) is one of the industry-first sustainable TPEs portfolio. The family is comprised of customizable grades which are produced from post-consumer, post-industrial, bio-based, and marine-based sources.

Advanced elastomer materials for mobility

Dryflex HiF is a range of high melt-flow and scratch resistant TPS-SEBS compounds with hardness 70-90 Shore A offered by HEXPOL TPE (Booth: 6.2D85). It was developed primarily for injection molded panels and skins, and it is part of the company’s next-generation materials for automotive interiors.

The compounds’ surface performance is confirmed by Erichsen and PMMA wheel scratch resistance. They are tested with Taber and Crock abrasion testing, xenon testing for lightfastness, and heat ageing testing. They have lower systems costs compared to PVC slush, PU and foil processes. 

Dryflex HiF also helps to meet sustainability targets thanks to recyclability in processing, lower density and low fogging.

Dryflex HiF compounds are part of HEXPOL TPE’s portfolio for automotive interiors.

Top Polymer (Booth: 6.2C89) has launched the Topolymer New TPE and engineering plastics or fiber woven composites by composite extrusion process. The materials feature long-term temperature and pressure resistance, as well as the ability to self-transfer heat. They are applied in cooling system for new energy battery pack, cooling liquid pressure delivery and circulation. 

While reducing weight by 25% and improving part manufacturing efficiency, they also effectively improve the cooling efficiency of the battery thermal management system.

ESTANE EV TPU Series of Lubrizol (Booth: 6.2C11) is used for new energy vehicle charging cables, providing properties including high abrasion resistance, good mechanical strength, recyclability and plasticizer free chemistry. 

The products also offer design flexibility through easy coloring for highly aesthetic outdoor cables with a durable, long-lasting effect even in light or pastel-colors, without the risk of blooming or whitening.