thermoplastic elastomers | Innovations
Right: Elasto’s Mediprene
grades replace butyl rubber in syringe plungers
we have large multi-national customers that need a global TPE supplier that can deliver consistent materials and local support across several geogra- phies. On the other hand, our teams are constantly developing new polymer combinations to provide tailor-made properties for specific applications.” Druwen says the company has invested in a new line
and technical centre at its German operation, Müller Kunststoffe, in 2014 and will add a new line at Elasto Sweden in 2015. “We work across the spectrum of TPE technologies, be it compounds based on TPE-S (SBS or SEBS) or TPV,” he says. Klas Dannäs, the company’s global R&D coordinator,
says key technical drivers for TPE are highly customised properties that push performance possibilities. “We are also witnessing an increasing importance for applica- tion-specific knowledge. Industry regulatory require- ments and standards can influence product development in a way which has not been known in the past. We have created product specialist teams that have in-depth knowledge in different segments, for example medical, construction, automotive and packaging,” he says.
Medical options “The possibilities for TPE in medical applications continue to expand,” says Niklas Ottosson, medical technical manager at Elasto Sweden. “We have developed a range of Mediprene TPE compounds for use in plunger seals for single-use syringes. This was to address industry demand to replace butyl rubber. “ Elasto added to its medical TPE offering in 2014 with
Right: Polymax is targeting its latest TPEs at demanding sterilisable
applications in the medical sector
the development of tinted transparent grades of Mediprene with hardnesses ranging from 30 to 90 Shore A. “The ability to clearly see through a product to monitor the patient is an important feature for many medical devices such as face masks,” says Ottosson. “In medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging colour is also often used functionally for product identification, to differentiate products with different uses or sizes. A blue or green colour is often used in medical transparent or translucent products to disguise the yellowing phenomena that can be caused by for example gamma sterilisation.” At NPE, Polymax Thermoplastic Elastomers
exhibited its expanded line of “premium quality” TPEs for use in extreme condition applications, by which it means very high and very low temperatures, during medical sterilisation procedures and demanding environmental conditions. Some of the new TPEs are formulated to endure exposure to ultra-violet light, abrasion, caustic substances and flammability conditions.
44 INJECTION WORLD | April 2015
www.injectionworld.com
Müller Kunststoffe last year teamed up with another
compounder, Akro-Plastic, to develop a low density (less than 1 g/cm3
) TPE compound for adhesion to
polyamides for automotive applications. The TPE, which is part of Müller’s Dryflex A family of TPE-S types, was developed to deliver optimal adhesion to Akro’s Akromid Lite and Akromid XtraLite modified PA compounds in multi-component applications. The polyamides are said to provide better chemical resistance with the same or better mechanical properties as standard PA6 or PA 66. Sven-M Druwen says the target was to provide an approved material system which is tested according to the new VDI standard for assessing adhesion of TPE on injected moulded substrates. Competition among TPE suppliers to the
automotive industry appears to be heating up, with suppliers of different polymer types upping the ante. Albis is one example, with new types of peroxide-cured thermoplastic vulcanisates (TPV).
These feature an irreversible structure of cross- linked bridges that is often produced using a phenolic
resin-based system. Albis, however, uses an alterna- tive for its Alfater XL series 4 range - peroxide curing. “Peroxide cured materials show several beneficial characteristics for special applications. By using peroxide cross-linking the odour as well as the amount of volatile organic compounds can be reduced significantly,” the company claims. The company says such properties are
especially important for applications requiring low emission, such as automotive interior components. It says that peroxide cross-linked TPV products have passed demanding automotive fogging and emission standards.
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