MATERIALS | THERMOPLASTIC ELASTOMERS


good, and there are no problems with VOCs and associated fogging and odour issues.


Fog and odour reduction Kraton says its TPE technologies deliver “excellent” cold temperature flexibility, even after long-term heat aging and Weather-Ometer testing. Plasticiser loadings are “minimal.” A further claimed advantage for the process is its


Above: Latest technology developments from Kraton en- able soft skins for instrument panels and other auto interior parts to be injection moulded


soft skin product designs without the need of a top coat. “Kraton IMSS technology will allow manufactur- ers to achieve highly-valued benefits such as vehicle weight reduction, safety and manufacturing efficien- cy – all from a single technology,” he says. Develop- ment programs are ongoing, with Kraton targeting commercialisation in the 2019 to 2020 timeframe. Kraton IMSS technology can be used on


standard equipment and under normal processing conditions, using both skin-only and over-moulded injection moulding processes. The company says production system costs for


production of parts like IP skins are lower than PVC slush moulding commonly used as well as sheets thermoformed in TPO elastomer-modified polyole- fin. Parts can also be lighter, thanks to a density of around 0.9 g/cm3


for SEBS compared with around


1.2 for PVC. No painting is required to hide weld lines and blemishes, aging properties are very


speed. While slush moulding an IP skin can some- times take five minutes or more, a Kraton IMSS skin can be injection moulded in little over a minute. Several other TPE suppliers are upping their game for automobile interior applications. “In recent years quality standards for vehicle interiors have steadily increased, particularly with regards to vehicle interior air quality (VIAQ), where the main concerns are odour, fogging and VOCs,” says Thomas Köppl, product manager with Hexpol TPE. He points out that raw materials often need to


undergo German VDA tests such as VDA 270 (“Determination of the Odour Characteristics of Trim Materials in Motor Vehicles”) and VDA 278 (“Thermal Desorption Analysis of Organic Emis- sions for the Characterisation of Non-Metallic Mate- rials for Automobiles”). Additional testing on VOCs is done on the components (for example VDA 276) and finally the air of the whole vehicle interior is tested in large chambers (ISO 12219-1 or Chinese regulation HJ/T400-2007). “Emission limits were lowered in recent years both by OEMs and legislation,” Köppl says. “These reduced levels can be challenging for some [styrenic] TPE-S-based compounds, therefore new materials were required.” Hexpol’s Dryflex Interior range are still based on TPE-S, but designed to minimise emissions,


More capacity at Kraiburg and PolyOne


Kraiburg TPE says the start-up of a new extrusion line at its headquarters in Waldkraiburg emphasises its commitment to production in Ger- many. The line expands the compa- ny’s total capacity to 56,000 tpa worldwide. Two other production sites are in the USA and Malaysia. “The Waldkraiburg site is and will


remain the focus of all of our activities, where we have been investing particularly in expanding our develop- ment centre and increasing our production capacities in recent years,”


44 INJECTION WORLD | May 2018


says CEO Franz Hinterecker. In the USA, the company relocated to a new production plant near Atlanta, GA, in 2016. An additional new line has recently been put into operation at the plant in Kuala Lumpur as well. PolyOne Corporation expects to


begin production of TPEs this summer at its existing facility in Pune, India. PolyOne currently produces colour and additive concentrates and compounds based on engineering thermoplastics on the site


“This investment at our facility in


Pune answers customers’ desire for a domestic supplier able to offer expertise in colour, engineered materials and thermoplastic elasto- mers,” said Craig Nikrant, president, Specialty Engineered Materials, PolyOne. “We are the only global company to offer all of these domesti- cally produced materials in India. Customers benefit from shorter lead times due to domestic production, and also from our global network of polymer science expertise.”


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