9 May 2024
Rubber claimed to reduce friction by up to 40% compared to ‘conventional technology’
Tokyo – Japanese materials supplier NOK Corp. and energy major Eneos Corp. have developed a ‘self-lubricating’ rubber, aimed particularly at automotive applications.
The material can reduce the friction of sealing products such as oil seals by up to 40% compared to conventional products, the companies said in a joint statement 8 May.
The rubber “maintains the same sealing performance even in poor lubrication environments,” according to the development partners.
The compound, they said, is optimised "to control the interface on a molecular scale, making it possible to efficiently utilise a small amount of lubricating oil.”
Trials have shown that an oil-seal prototype using the rubber can suppress friction by about 30-40% on average compared to previous NOK low-friction oil seals.
Five years in the making, the development team leveraged the rubber-compounding expertise of NOK and Eneos' lubricant-manufacturing knowledge.
The technology is claimed to help reduce environmental impact of seals by reducing the amount of lubricating oil used as well as the viscosity needed for the lubricating oil.
Products using the rubber will have “low sliding heat-generation, resistance to wear, and resistance to deterioration, even in low-viscosity lubricating oil environments.”
This, in particular, will be helpful in new-mobility trends, where increasing circumferential speed of motors and other devices is contributing to poor lubrication environments.
In the future, the partners aim to commercialise low-friction sealing products using the rubber, for applications in electric vehicle (EV) engines and other areas such as e-axles.
The new rubber material will be launched at the Japan 'Automotive Engineering Expo 2024 Yokohama', being held 22-24 May.
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