DKT 2018: ZEON Strengthens Market Leader Position in Specialty Rubbers

ZEON Corporation, Japan, represented by the European subsidiary ZEON Europe GmbH exhibits at the Deutsche Kautschuk Tagung (DKT; German Rubber Conference) in Nuremberg, 2-5 July 2018, a triannual international major event for the rubber industry. In hall 12 booth 325, ZEON will meet and greet the business partners and present the latest innovations and updates of ZEON activities, particularly in Europe. Interested parties are invited to discuss how to improve the long term performance of HNBR compounds at ZEON’s presentation in the conference program (lecture session 3 July, 8:30 a.m., Hall Paris). ZEON brings the following highlights into the focus of this event:

HNBR – Hydrogenated nitrile rubbers are well known in the automotive industry for their resistance to fuels, lubricating oils, coolants and other media and have a long history in the engine sealing components. However, the recent trends in engine cooling have resulted in the use of more aggressive coolant technologies and higher temperature performance requirements, from 125°C in the past up to 150°C recently and in some cases in combination with low temperature requirements as low as -40°C. To tackle this challenge has become the focus, in order to bring Zetpol® to the higher competitive level like Fluoroelastomers.

Based on the next generation polymer technology, ZEON introduced high performance HNBR (HP-Zetpol®), that contain unique architecture and a specific cure site monomer. ZEON’s application technologists have developed compounds based on this novel material, which can offer better heat resistance and significantly improved compression set resistance compared to the conventional peroxide-cured HNBR. Dr. Björn Nelson, Technical Service Manager concludes, “the improvement of compression set resistance is magnified over longer ageing time and especially in this cross-sectioned articles, such as O-rings. This makes HP-Zetpol® a material of choice for the recent coolant technologies”. Detailed information will be presented in the lecture program.
ZEON enhances the capability to supply the innovative material HP-Zetpol®, hence the production capacity in Kawasaki, Japan will be extended in the near future. In parallel ZEON is continuously increasing the efficiency of two other Zetpol® production facilities in Takaoka, Japan and in Texas, USA in order to fulfil steadily increasing market demand of ZEON’s top quality products.

HT-ACM – The automotive region Europe is the key market for ZEON’s innovations in the acrylic rubbers. HyTemp® ACM have been established in the automotive market for sealings and gaskets as well as for hoses in the engine air management system. Its resistance against high temperature and oil supports the development of most popular modular engine design at OEMs. ZEON keeps developing new types of acrylic rubbers to face the constantly challenging market requirements: engine downsizing, combined platforms and emission reductions. The novel HyTemp® H570 is able to maintain the maximum high temperature resistance of HT-ACM whilst at the same time improving low temperature and oil resistance performances. For CAC hose applications, ZEON continues to improve the polymer robustness to increase the physical properties retention after ageing, which is crucial for certain OEM specifications, without jeopardizing the dynamic resilience and extrusion speed. Talk to us for further information!

TPV – Zeotherm®, a familiar brand name for heat and oil resistance applications of thermoplastic vulcanizate in the automotive sector. The unique properties of Zeotherm®, a polyblend of polyamide and acrylic rubber, offer various advantages like weight and cost reduction, simple design, easy processing and recyclability. The blow moulding grades of Zeotherm® with a hardness range of 90 Shore A up to 40 Shore D have settled their position in the market of cold side CAC hose applications.

NBR – Beside the standard and pre-crosslinked nitrile rubber portfolio, ZEON is also well known as a specialty nitrile rubber producer. The specialty nitrile rubbers vary their forms from standard bale rubber, to liquid (Nipol® 1312) or powder (Nipol® 1411) grades, originated from the production facility in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Nipol® 1312 has proven its unique function to enable the production of soft elastomer articles without using high level of oil or plasticizer. It eases the processing and prevents oil bleeding, since the liquid NBR is curable into the polymer matrix. Powder NBR is perfectly utilized in a special dry compounding process in the area where the end products need to have high stiffness but also a certain extend of flexibility, e. g. in the brake pad application. Both liquid and powder nitrile rubbers are ideal material for adhesive application, also where a solvent free system is desired.

SSBR, Li-BR, Hydrocarbon Resin – The tyre industry is one of ZEON’s main market segments. The newly founded joint venture of ZEON Corporation and SUMITOMO Chemicals (ZS Elastomers) in Japan consolidates their tyre rubbers product portfolio, solution-SBR and Li-catalysed-BR, supplying the global tyre industry with world class products. The functionalization technologies coming from both mother companies lead to a special synergy effect and become the solution in the developments of future green tires. “Our products, particularly the functionalized S-SBR and Li-BR, support the global tyre industry to continuously optimizing the balance between low rolling resistance, wet grip, wear resistance and good processability”, says Hiroyuki Adachi, Tyre Rubber Commercial Manager, “they are the key features of modern high performance eco tyre”.

ZEON hydrocarbon resins (Quintone®), furthermore, has become an essential part as performance resins in the modern tyre technology. In addition to the standard functions of hydrocarbon resins as tackifier and softener, which are necessary for compound processability, Quintone® improves other tyre performance metrics, such as the tip resistance, chip-chunk resistance, and anti-crack behaviour. Both in specialty rubbers and resins, ZEON’s R&D activities result on innovative materials that support tyre compounders worldwide to achieve their target tyre performances.

COMPANY PROFILE

ZEON Corporation is the world leader in specialty elastomers, polymers, and specialty chemicals. ZEON is one of the top producers of polymers in the world, operating a global network of plants in Asia and North America, and research and development laboratories in Japan, USA, China, and Singapore. With almost 70 years in business and consolidated sales of ca. US$ 3 billion, ZEON has both the experiences and the expertise in C4 and C5 chemistry to offer a wide range of world class products. ZEON employs over 3.300 people worldwide, with global headquarters in Tokyo and regional sales offices all over Europe, America and Asia. “We realize the importance to have a close partnership with (potential) customers worldwide. Therefore, our resources in sales and technical service always put big effort in technical cooperation to bring positive impulse to our customers. Then, together we will find the optimum solution,” Hubert Thimm, ZEON Europe Commercial Director explains.

While ZEON is continuously settled in the traditional global elastomer business (60% of total business), the specialty material business is seriously built up and has been growing significantly. ZEON specialty materials will provide material solutions for the future world in terms of sustainable energy sources, electromobility, digitalisation and media, as well as modern lifestyle and health care.

ZEON Europe GmbH
Hansaallee 249
40549 Düsseldorf
Germany
Phone +49-211-5267-0
Fax +49-211-5267-160
Email zeinfo@zeon.eu
Public Relations: Alice Zella (ext. 139)
www.zeon.eu

This release was published on openPR.