Smithers engineers pivot with hose, belt industry pressures

AKRON—If the pandemic and ensuing market volatility have taught the hose and belt industry one thing, it is to pivot when necessary—and to test and retest products when a change is forced in raw materials.

Enter materials testing firm Smithers, with laboratories in Akron and Lansing, Mich., which boasts a long history of certifying hose and belt products.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is one of many factors that have impacted the supply chain and the hose industry in recent years," Jeff Andrasik, general manager of product testing at Smithers, told Rubber News. "Industry leaders are reporting 20-week product launch backlogs and 30-week lead times on critical raw materials. In many cases, materials and products are sitting on cargo ships awaiting ports."

Andrasik, who directs a team of 10 engineers at both laboratory locations, joined Smithers in 2002 and has developed a variety of pressure, vibration and temperature test programs for automotive, industrial, aerospace, nuclear and consumer products.

And he said the Smithers teams continue to witness tectonic shifts in the hose and belt industry.

"The elastomer industry has also reported ongoing shortages of natural rubber and silicone," Andrasik said. "These and other factors have forced many manufacturers to make unexpected changes to product design and formulation in order to maintain output and meet customer demand."

Andrasik said Smithers, a third-party testing firm, has become an invaluable service for OEMs and aftermarket customers seeking product certification and faster times-to-market.

"A third-party testing partner is incredibly valuable for companies implementing major product changes," he said.

An experienced testing laboratory can qualify new materials and test new product designs quickly so that manufacturers can minimize disruption to production.

"In fact, many manufacturers are leaning on third-party service providers to maintain production and get their products to market faster than the competition," he said. "In addition, manufacturers are now starting to qualify not only option B, but potentially options C and D as well.

"This contingency planning will be critical to ensure supply of viable options that maintain performance and quality standards."

While the pandemic may have set the bar for improvisation, not all of the pivot points in the hose industry have been pandemic-driven. Many raw materials have been subject to high demand, low supply, pricing volatility, choked supply lines and lengthy lead times for shipment.

"When you're working with a replacement raw material, the goal is for part performance to remain unaffected," Andrasik said. "Testing data allows you to make confident determinations that product performance is not compromised when a replacement raw material is used."

Since the product development cycle in the automotive industry has gotten dramatically shorter and faster in recent years, the ways in which hoses and fluid transfer assemblies are designed also have been impacted, Andrasik said.

"Many tier suppliers have had to adjust their approach to product development in order to meet the rigorous deadlines of automotive OEMs," he said. "Unfortunately, given the state of the supply chain, survival is taking precedence over innovation these days."

Manufacturing a hose can take anywhere from four to 56 weeks, depending on logistics and material availability.

"The vast majority of the industry is finding it extremely challenging to get materials in-house, which makes production timelines unpredictable," Andrasik said.

In turn, manufacturers are "more amenable than ever" to changing suppliers and testing new materials if it means meeting production deadlines.

Pivot points in the overall automotive market, such as the transition to EVs, have forced other changes in the hose and fluid transfer industry.

EVs and internal combustion engine vehicles rely on many of the same fluid transfer systems, such as brake lines and air conditioning, Andrasik said.

There also are a number of dramatic differences, "largely informed by how the vehicle is powered and how that affects the hose's service environment," he said.

EVs are powered by large batteries that generate a lot of heat, making thermal management a critical issue for manufacturers.

"Most manufacturers use complex hose assemblies that wrap around the battery and its compartment," Andrasik said. "These hoses are generally much longer and narrower than those found in a traditional ICE vehicle, with many twists and turns."

This presents a unique challenge, as the assembly must be able to maintain consistent flow, pressure and temperature throughout, so that the battery pack remains at its most efficient operating temperature.

ICE hoses typically are under greater pressure than EV coolant hoses, forcing product design changes in this regard. And since EVs do not have an engine compartment, they are not subject to the same high external temperatures as ICE hoses, which are tested to about 130°C, Andrasik said.

There are similarities in hose components between the two vehicle types, as well.

"Many of the Tier 1 suppliers (now) making EV hoses have been making traditional ICE hoses for years, if not decades," Andrasik said. "ICE hoses are often made from EPDM due to its excellent heat and weathering resistance properties, and it's not uncommon to see EV hoses made with EPDM as well, especially the hoses designed to cool the EV's battery pack."

"Lightweighting" has become a buzz word across the EV industry, and it has impacted the hose and fluid transfer space as well, Andrasik said.

"Because EV hoses generally operate in a far less rigorous service environment, some manufacturers are experimenting with different materials, with a special focus on lightweight materials," Andrasik said.

With the seemingly unavoidable heavy weight of an EV battery, auto makers are looking to reduce weight elsewhere in the vehicle.

"This move toward lightweighting has affected material choices for EV hoses, especially those that run the entire length of the vehicle," he said. "Many of these hoses are being made with nylon or thermoplastic elastomers in order to reduce overall weight."

Testing a fluid transfer system that runs the entire length of a vehicle can pose problems, depending on the size of testing equipment that a firm might possess.

Andrasik said Smithers has been able to customize its testing protocols to meet these challenges.

"Each product's testing ... will be customized based on its service environment and any critical industry or OEM specifications," Andrasik said, adding that virtually all hoses and fluid transfer systems are subject to some type of pressure, vibration and temperature testing—commonly referred to as "PVT."

Other common testing methods at Smithers include burst testing, fluid compatibility testing and accelerated aging. Abrasion, corrosion, flex, torsion, tear and puncture resistance, and chemical characterization are other types of hose testing.

Like ICE drivers, EV drivers tend to be creatures of habit, with average commutes making up a majority of the drive time.

But since some EV markets (especially those in other countries) are dominated by ride share vehicles, hose makers must take longer run times into consideration when developing products "to ensure that every component in the vehicle can handle many consecutive hours of operation without showing premature signs of wear and tear."

"Our product test engineers are extremely familiar with existing OEM and industry specs, and we've developed hundreds of custom test protocols over the years," Andrasik said. "As a result, our OEM clients often turn to us for guidance when developing their internal specifications for hoses, assemblies, and accessories.

"We're incredibly proud to have contributed to the development of OEM specifications."

The rate of change that the EV market has experienced over the last several years has been dramatic, Andrasik said.

"So much so that hoses are being developed before corresponding test standards exist," he said. "Without a clear path forward for validation, many OEMs have started using ICE hose specs as a starting point for developing specs for EV hoses. Some elements of the spec may remain the same, but others may change.

"This is an ongoing process, and OEMs and tier suppliers have had to work together to refine existing specs into optimized standards."

Some OEMs have finalized and released specs for EV hoses, while other specs are in early draft form.

"There are several reasons why an OEM might create their own custom specifications rather than relying exclusively on an industry standard," Andrasik said.

They include customization, speed to market and necessity.

"Automotive OEMs are constantly gathering incredible quantities of data on their own vehicles," he said. "They use that data to define their own performance standards and write specifications that meet the exact requirements of their vehicles."

In addition, Andrasik noted that industry standards don't always use accelerated test methods to quantify product performance.

"OEMs are eager to find faster testing solutions so they can still measure performance and safety while meeting production deadlines," he said.

Finally, sustainability initiatives no doubt will cause the hose and fluid transfer industry to pivot once again.

This is especially true in the aerospace industry, Andrasik said.

"The U.S. Department of Energy is pushing for more sustainable, environmentally friendly aviation fuels," he said. "These new fuels are formulated differently than traditional fuels and thus react differently to the rubbers, plastics and other materials utilized in many aerospace fuel lines and seals.

"As a result, fuel line manufacturers are exploring different materials for every component of the assembly that comes into direct contact with the fuel itself to ensure compatibility and performance. This is affecting material choice as well as overall construction of the hoses and assemblies."