Vehicles of the future open door for advanced rubber technologies

London – The accelerating pace of developments in the market for electric vehicles (EVs) is continuing to drive technology developments among machinery-makers, materials suppliers and processors within the elastomers/rubber industry.

Feedback from major players in this space points to significant progress being made at all stages of the development process, from R&D to commercialisation as well as planning for further advances to meet the requirements of the automotive industry over the next five years and beyond.

According to Klaus Kammerer, technical service & development consultant at the Celanese Mobility & Materials business, “before this decade is over, more than two out of three cars produced in the world will be either fully battery-powered or with a hybrid propulsion system.”

Tier suppliers, he adds, are “meanwhile, scrambling to maintain their business supporting ICE-powered vehicles while also setting themselves up for the electric future.  The rapid pace of change puts pressure on automotive-systems suppliers to find materials that meet new CTQs [critical technical qualifications] for EVs, and ideally for both ICE and electrically powered vehicles.”

Water/glycol remains the most common cooling technology for batteries and because it is not too aggressive, non-oil-resistant sealing materials like EPDM or silicone rubber (liquid (LSR) or high consistency rubber (HCR) can be used as seals for water/glycol systems.

However, an increasing number of cooling systems in EVs have not just water/glycol but also include oils for lubrication – for these, neither EPDM nor LSR work well.

Read the full report – with input also from leaders at REP, Datwyler, Synthos, Wacker, Dow – in the November/December issue of European Rubber Journal magazine – online version also available in the Featured Content section under the Focus tab on the ERJ website homepage.