The use of thermoplastic elastomers is developing rapidly into a major success story, both as a replacement for vulcanised rubber and also for totally new applications. Several important factors are driving developments forward such as legislation on recycling materials in cars and electrical/electronic goods, and continued growth of soft-touch applications.
To meet these demands there are many technical developments in hand by TPE manufacturers and compounders such as greater thermal, oxidative and weathering stability; softer grades of premium TPEs; improved properties such as resilience, oil resistance, flammability, smoke emission, fogging, adhesion and transparency; foamable grades and improved co-processibility.New types of dynamically vulcanised TPEs with improved properties, melt mixing as a low-cost route to new types of TPE, and metallocene catalysed polyolefin materials are examples of developments pushing the boundaries even further.
SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION AND MARKET TRENDS
Dock No, Darren Cooper & Prachaya Jumpasut, International Rubber Study Group, UK
Robert Eller, Robert Eller Associates Inc, USA
Minjae Hwang1, J S Kim1, M K Yang1, J S Choi2 & T S Jung3, Honam Petrochemical Corp, Korea1, Sung Jin Construction Co2 & Daeheung Industrial Co3
SESSION 2: MATERIAL SELECTION
Jeffrey McCoy & Jane Maselli, A Schulman Inc, USA
Paper 5: Performance, Processing and Design Advantages of Santoprene® Thermoplastic Vulcanizate over Thermoset Rubber
Brendan Chase, Advanced Elastomer Systems NV/SA, Belgium
SESSION 3: NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THERMOPLASTIC VULCANISATES
Gary Williams, Du Pont Dow Elastomers, USA
Dino Bacci, Roberta Marchini & Maria Teresa Scrivani, Basell Polyolefins, Italy
Alberto Dozeman & Gart Kostemans, DSM Elastomers, The Netherlands
Christer Bergstrom, Optatech Corporation, Finland
Brian Cail & Robert DeMarco, Zeon Chemicals LP, USA
Paper 11: A New TPV with Excellent Recovery Performance
Stuart Cook, TARRC, UK
SESSION 4: AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS
Marc Setzen, PolyOne, Belgium
Jonathan Bryant, Daniel Miles & Alain Bayet, Multibase (A Dow Corning Company), France
Jan Tom Fernhout & Ed Deckers, DSM Thermoplastic Elastomers, The Netherlands
Kent Blizard, Trexel Inc, USA
Paper 16: Polyolefin TPV for Automotive Interior Applications
Synco de Vogel1, Charles G Reid2, Kevin G Cai2, Hoan Tran2 & Norbert Vennemann3, Solvay Engineered Polymers, Germany1 & USA2 & University of Applied Sciences, Germany3
SESSION 5: ADVANCES IN STRYENIC BLOCK COPOLYMERS
Manoj Ajbani, Thierry Materne, Chris Kiehl & Andy Takacs, The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co, Chemical Division, USA
Henk de Groot, Kraton Polymers, Belgium
Tony McNally, Queen's University Belfast, UK
Yuji Hongu, Kazuhisa Kodama, Nobuyuki Toyoda, Iwakazu Hattori, Masashi Shimakage
Katsunori Takamoto, Kururay Europe GmbH, Germany