DKT: Zeon advances HNBR performance, capacity

Nuremberg, Germany – ZEON Corp., represented by the European subsidiary ZEON Europe GmbH is presenting a series of innovations and updates of its activities, particularly in Europe.

Much focus is on the company’s hydrogenated nitrile rubbers HNBRs, which are widely used in the automotive industry for their resistance to fuels, lubricating oils, coolants and other media components.

However, notes Zeon, recent trends in engine cooling have resulted in the use of more aggressive coolant technologies and higher temperature performance requirements.

This, for example, has pushed heat-resistance specifications up by about 20% to 150°C – in some cases in combination with low temperature requirements down to minus 40°C.

In tackling these challenges Zeon said it is focused on developing grades of its Zetpol HNBRs that match the performance of certain fluoroelastomers. These include HP-Zetpol, which is based on a unique architecture and a specific cure site monomer.

According to the company, its application technologists have developed HP-Zetpol compounds with better heat resistance and significantly improved compression set resistance compared to the conventional peroxide-cured HNBR.

The improvement of compression set resistance is magnified over longer ageing time and especially in this cross-sectioned articles, such as O-rings, according to technical service manager Dr. Björn Nelson.

“This makes HP-Zetpol a material of choice for the recent coolant technologies,” Nelson stated in a Zeon press release for DKT.

As ERJ recently reported Zeon is set to increase production capacity for HP-Zetpol at its site in Kawasaki, Japan, according to the company’s statement.

The capacity “will be extended in the near future,” said Zeon’s DKT statement, noting that it is also “continuously increasing  the efficiency of two other Zetpol production facilities in Takaoka, Japan and Texas, US in order to fulfil steadily increasing market demand.”

Also on show by Zeon at DKT are:

HT-ACM acrylic rubbers, which are used in the automotive market for sealings and gaskets as well as for hoses in the engine air management system. Zeon’s developments include HyTemp H570, which is able to maintain the maximum high temperature resistance of HT-ACM while also improving low-temperature and oil resistance.

Zeotherm polyblend of polyamide and acrylic rubber, offering opportunities for weight- and cost-reduction, simple design, easy processing and recyclability. Blow moulding grades of Zeotherm, with a hardness range of 90 Shore A up to 40 Shore D, are used in cold side CAC hose applications.

Specialty nitrile rubber grade Nipol 1312 is designed to enable the production of soft elastomer articles without using high level of oil or plasticiser. The liquid NBR is curable into the polymer matrix and so can “ease processing and prevent oil bleeding”.