Materials: TPEs for Automotive with a Range of Renewable Content

Three additional grades of the Dryflex Green family of biobased   TPE compounds are new available from  Hexpol TPE (U.S. office Sandusky, Ohio), targeted to interior automotive. The series now includes grades based on styrenic block copolymer (TPS) and thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) technologies, with amounts of renewable content to over 90% (ASTM D 6866-12) and hardness from 15 Shore A to 60 Shore D.

  ▪  Dryflex Green TPE compounds contain raw materials from renewable resources such as plant and vegetable crops. The biobased content can derive from various raw materials such as polymers, fillers, plasticisers or additives, coming from renewable sources such as products and by-products from agricultural that are rich in carbohydrates, especially saccharides. 

 ▪  Dryflex Green TPEs can usually be used as a drop-in solution, without the need for tool modifications. They display mechanical and physical properties comparable to TPE compounds from fossil based raw materials. They also show very good bonding behaviour to PE and PP, with special grades for bonding to ABS, PC/ABS and PET.

 ▪  Dryflex Green TPEs are recyclable, they are easy to color, and grades are available with raw materials that are compliant with food contact regulations.

Dryflex Green TPEs can be used in automotive interior applications such as floor mats, cup holder liners, fascia, trim and inlay mats. Said global R&D manager Klas Dannäs, “This is part of our ongoing commitment to bring new possibilities for sustainability to the market. Alongside our TPEs with recycled content and biocomposite compounds, we are developing an extensive portfolio of resource saving materials. We continue to trial new and emerging raw material combinations and further test the possibilities of Dryflex Green TPE compounds”.

Alongside their sustainability credentials, materials used for automotive interiors also need to meet requirements for Vehicle Interior Air Quality (VIAQ) and legislation regarding odour, fogging and VOC. To help automotive players meet these dual demands, Hexpol TPE has carried out odor and fogging tests on representative Dryflex Green grades. The results demonstrate their low emissions performance, for example a 75 Shore A Dryflex Green compound with a renewable content of 20 % showed a very low amount of VOC (42,8 μg/g) and fog (474 μg/g) in the thermodesorption test according to VDA 278 and odour 3.0 in VDA 270 C3 test.