James Walker starts 'urgent' search for PFAS-compliant elastomers

WOKING, England—James Walker has launched a research project to develop elastomer compounds ahead of a proposed European Union ban on per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Set to start in June, the R&D program has a remit to identify and develop materials to help industry comply with the proposed EU regulations.

Work will be carried out in partnership with the International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM)—part of the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG).

The 24-month collaboration with WMG, based at the University of Warwick, will address PFAS restriction proposals announced Feb. 7 by the European Chemicals Agency.

If adopted, the EU regulation could effectively ban all fluoropolymers, including elastomers—with similar restrictions possible in other countries and regions worldwide.

High-performance sealing products rely on fluoroelastomers, particularly as the polymers are resistant to extreme temperatures and aggressive chemicals.

These materials "are critical to the semiconductor, aerospace, petrochemical, defense and nuclear industries for example," James Walker said in a statement.

Currently, there are no suitable alternative materials available, according to the company.

"Alternative sealing materials are urgently needed to replace PFAS," the United Kingdom engineering group emphasized.

The research team will use WMG's "small-scale, advanced, mixing capability" and James Walker's expertise in nano-fillers and polymer science. The project will also tap into University of Warwick's analysis capabilities, including a rubber process analyzer with wide temperature range, research lead Chaoying Wan said.

"It is the only one in the U.K., and one of only a few in the world with the capability to simulate dynamic elastomer performance at very low temperature," she said.

The function will be "extremely useful" to compare differences in formulation design for applications such as high-pressure or low-temperature sealing.

James Walker's role will be to rapidly design, manufacture and screen bench-scale test formulations. The combined R&D effort is expected to enable "rapid development and commercialization of materials."