A weekly look at new products, innovations

Editor's Note: Each week, Rubber & Plastics News will take a look at some of the rubber industry's new products and innovations on www.rubbernews.com. Does your company have a new product or new innovation? To be considered for inclusion in this recurring feature, email [email protected].

Dow Corning Corp. has unveiled an enhancement to its silastic fluorosilicone rubber portfolio—a more heat-resistant silastic FSR technology for extreme high-temperature applications.

This new platform enables Dow Corning's FSR-engineered elastomers to meet demands of customer automotive applications that require long-lasting, reliable performance at temperatures exceeding 220°C, the company said.

Dow Corning said it took a holistic approach and looked at polymer design, raw materials, additives and processing in order to boost overall material performance. As a result, the company said it developed a FSR technology platform that delivers reliable, long-lasting performance at higher temperatures.

Dow Corning explained it validated these performance improvements by subjecting its enhanced FSR technology to long-term heat aging, fluid exposure and elevated mechanical and adhesion to HCR.

By leveraging this technology, Dow Corning said it can tailor new cutting-edge FSR solutions that target the precise performance needs of customer applications, including easier processing, thinner wall sections, lower weight, reduced systems cost and more stable performance over a broader temperature range compared to conventional solutions.

The company's enhanced silastic FSR compounds are available globally and come as ready-to-use rubber crepe mixtures designed for traditional molding, calendering and extrusion processes.

Dow Corning debuted the platform at SAE 2015 World Congress, April 21-23 at the Cobo Center in Detroit.

For more information, click here.

Milliken & Co. has released its Milliguard AOX-1 novel polymer-bound antioxidant for polyurethane that the company said addresses more-stringent environmental, health and safety requirements while delivering thermal stabilization performance at low loadings.

Milliken said the Milliguard AOX-1 offers a unique solution for compliance with tougher vehicle indoor air quality standards. These standards include China's new passenger car air quality assessment guidelines and similar emerging standards in other regions. Milliken claims Milliguard AOX-1 contributes negligible volatile organic compound and outgassing condensation content in emissions testing and offers unparalleled efficiency in stabilizing free radicals that can degrade polyurethane foam, Milliken said, and is highly synergistic with other antioxidant classes. This Milliken technology provides polyol producers and foam manufacturers with a tool for interior vehicle components such as seats, door trim, carpet, instrument panels, headliners and consoles, the company said.

Test results achieved internally consistently showed Milliguard AOX antioxidant significantly reduced VOC content by more than two thirds to 22 ppm, Milliken said, compared to the industry standard 69 ppm. Milliken's antioxidant minimized FOG content emission to 6 ppm, compared to the industry standard 541 ppm, the company said.

For more information, go here.

Elastocon TPE Technologies Inc. has released two new grades in the 8000 Series of general purpose series of thermoplastic elastomers—8088N (colorable) and 8088BL (black lubricated)—and they have passed FMVSS302 specifications for flammability.

With both new grades supplied as ready to use pellets in 1,000-pound quantities and capable of being overmolded onto polypropylene, Elastocon said, they are formulated for different applications:

• 8088N is a Shore A 88, colorable TPE for applications that call for rubber-like properties and a good surface finish ideally suited for consumer goods and it is FDA compliant too, for food applications, and industrial applications requiring U.V. stability. This grade is shear dependent and is formulated to process on conventional thermoplastic equipment for injection molding, extrusion or blow molding.

• Elastocon 8088BL is a Shore A 90 black, lubricated TPE for applications that call for high impact resistance and a reduced COF (coefficient of friction.

Elastoncon said since they have passed flammability standards, both grades are suited for automotive interior applications.

For more information on Elastocon TPEs, visit www.elastocontpe.com.