AUTOMOTIVE
If you’re looking for improved end-of-life recyclability or reducing your vehicle’s carbon footprint, Kraton offers solutions to improve overall performance. From interior applications such as instrument and door panel skins to exterior applications like protective films and coatings, our products give formulators and manufacturers a wide range of performance attributes and versatility to design a differentiated driving experience and enable a lower carbon footprint.
Automotive
PRODUCTS
Kraton™ G Polymers
Deliver high strength and excellent UV and heat stability. The product can be blended with polyolefins to improve processability. Kraton G polymers can be formulated into compounds suitable to manufacture automotive weather seals, such as window encapsulation, glass run channels, and various static seals, representing a cost-effective alternative to EPDM. These polymers also have excellent impact properties, especially in cold temperatures, and are often used to modify polypropylene and TPO to enhance impact performance.
Kraton™ FG Polymers
Kraton™ D Polymers
Is an un-hydrogenated styrenic block copolymers (USBC) polymer that is versatile with high strength, a wide range of hardness, and low viscosity. These properties enable a wider processing window in thermoplastic melt processing or processing in solution. This system can be used for sound-dampening applications and as an adhesive system.
Literature
Benefits
- EExceptional Solubility Power
- EImproved Cleaning
- EFaster Cleaning
- ENon-flammable
- EMinimal VOC (CARB LVP-VOC classified)
IMSS Technology
Kraton IMSS™ technology is a revolutionary technology that enables IM processing for skins by combining the latest generation of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) polymer chemistry enabling, soft touch haptics, and vehicle weight savings . IMSS delivers enhanced manufacturing efficiency by enabling the injection molding of large, thin-walled soft skin parts such as instrument panel skins as thin as 1 mm. It runs on standard equipment and under normal processing conditions, including 1K and 2K processes. This product can achieve 25 percent weight savings over existing PVC slush molded soft skin and can replicate an existing slush skin A-surface design without any modification. IMSS also supports environmentally responsible initiatives such as vehicle lightweighting and recyclability with the ability to re-use scrap and production trim waste.
Applications
- Instrument panels
- Door trim panels
- Center consoles
Key Benefits
- System-level cost savings
- Enables injection molding of large, thin-walled parts
- Enables vehicle weight savings
- Improved aging performance
- Improved interior air quality
- Improved perceived quality
- Enables skin recyclability
Slush Molded Soft Skins
Kraton slush molding technology provides manufacturers with a lightweight, environmentally sustainable solution with improved aging properties. Our thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) technology has enhanced features over incumbent products and enables the development of soft-touch interior applications using current processing assets.
The new generation slush product offers critical benefits, including lower density properties that satisfy OEM lightweighting initiatives, the ability to run in existing slush processes without additional tooling, and long-term aging advantages such as safe airbag deployment performance over the vehicle lifecycle.
TPE Slush molded skins enable features consistent with current automotive interior design practices . This production process allows manufacturers and OEMs greater design freedom and is used to produce a variety of automotive interior components.
Applications
- Instrument panels
- Door trim
- Consoles
Features
- Lower density then incumbent materials
- No cross linking, phthalate free and low plasticizer content
- Excellent abrasion resistance/durability
- Cold temperature flexibility
- Enables soft touch haptics
- Design freedom by slush molded process
- Uses existing slush and foaming resources
- The natural color of the material is clear
Key Benefits
- Enables vehicle weight saving
- Improved aging , fogging, VOC, odor performance
- Meets OEM performance specification
- Cold temperature flexibility
- Improved perceived quality
- Enables skin designs with tight radii and aggressive undercuts
- No additional capital investment needed
- Excellent colorability
Designing for Recyclability
Learn how Kraton polymers can help brands maximize the use of recycled content in their product design.
Soft Skin Instrument Panel
Kraton IMSS™ technology is a revolutionary technology that enables IM processing for skins by combining the latest generation of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) polymer chemistry, soft touch haptics, and vehicle weight savings with injection molding.
Soft Touch Interior Parts
Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) compounds based on Kraton HSBC are extensively used in automotive interiors because of their soft touch feel and exceptional color-matching performance. Applications include console mats, cup holder liners, overmolded knobs, grips, and bezels. These compounds can also be formulated to be overmolded onto different substrates, minimizing additional assembly steps.
Process
- Compounding
- Injection molding
Technology/Product
- Kraton™ G1650 , Kraton™ G1651, Kraton™ G1654
- Kraton™ G1640 , Kraton™ G1641, Kraton™ G1642
- Kraton™ FG1901
- Kraton™ MD1648
- Kraton™ MD6951
Features
- Maleic anhydride functionality
- Higher flow properties
- Wide formulation latitude
- Stable SEBS backbone structure
- High quality, consistent product performance
- High level of hydrogenation
Benefits
- Excellent adhesion onto polar plastics
- Fewer quality defects in final application
- More efficient compounding
- Soft haptics
- More efficient mixing of dissimilar materials in compounding
- Good UV performance
Steering Wheel Airbag Cover
A critical safety component for airbags is the ability to deploy from underneath. It also requires the part not to have a brittle failure that could cause cover pieces to turn into shrapnel when airbags deploy. This is an especially high risk at low temperatures when traditional engineering plastics become more brittle or hard. Kraton polymers give airbag covers higher flexibility in cold temperatures.
Enhanced aesthetic qualities, such as consistent color properties and lack of molding defects, are essential to the airbag cover as it is very visible to the driver. Scratch resistance is also necessary as the airbag cover has lots of contact with the driver. Kraton products allow for higher flow properties and excellent compatibilization performance, which enhances colorability and reduces the risks of defects such as tiger stripes and sink marks.
Process
- Compounding
- Injection molding
Technology/Product
Features & Benefits
- Cold temperature flexibility
- Higher flow properties
- Excellent compatibilization performance
- More efficient mixing of colors in the compounding
- More efficient compounding
Floor Mat and Carpet Backing
Floor mats and carpet backing provide a soft cushioning effect for automotive interiors. These cost-sensitive applications use a high percentage of oil and fillers with recycled materials. The product must have a good compatibilizer to achieve efficient oil loading while experiencing oil bleed out.
Kraton polymers can be formulated to replace rubber or PVC used in floor mats or carpet backing. Our products offer more efficient oil absorption to deliver soft haptics, eliminate oil bleeding, and reduce costs. The polymers also provide excellent compatibilization performance to mix dissimilar materials in the compounding more efficiently, removing plasticizer migration and rubber smell. Injection molded floor mats allow a custom fit for individual vehicles for aesthetic features and easy cleaning.
Process
- Compounding
- Extruded sheet
- Injection molding
Technology/Product
Features & Benefits
- Efficient oil absorption
- Excellent compatibilization performance
- Soft haptics, no oil bleed out, lower costs
- More efficient mixing of dissimilar materials in the compounding
- No rubber smell or no plasticizer migration
Removable Coatings
Reliable Rubber-like Protective Removable Coating
Clear and colored rubber-like, peelable coatings formulated with Kraton™ G SEBS polymer adhere to painted metal or plastic surfaces, adding reliable protection against chipping, scratching, water spots, and corrosion. When the protective or decorative coating is no longer required, or a new decorative appearance is desired, the material easily peels off and leaves no residue.
Weather Strips, Body Seals
Aesthetic qualities and good sealing properties are critical in weather strips and body sealing applications. Kraton products enable more consistent color properties, improve weatherability and enable good sealing properties due to low compression set properties. To improve the touch and feel of haptics, our polymers offer low-hardness materials, enhancing the ability to produce softer surfaces.
Kraton high-flow polymers enable formulators to mold with lower pressures, making the overmolding process more consistent and reducing process-related defects for corner molding and joints, even if the joined materials are not TPE. In the case of glass encapsulation, lower molding pressures result in less glass breakage.
Due to the excellent compatibilization and high flow properties, Kraton can increase profile extrusion quality metrics and line speed – issues that historically hampered the EPDM extrusion process.
With performance enhancement in many areas of the automotive weatherstrip and seal systems, our TPE polymers can enhance performance and add value over traditional materials used in today’s systems.
Process
- Compounding
- Injection molding
- Extrusion
Technology/Product
- Kraton™ G1651
- Kraton™ G1651, Kraton™ G1633, Kraton™ FG1901, Kraton™ MD6684 (Coextruded/Overmolded Seals)
- Kraton™ G1633 (Weatherstrips/Body Seals)
- Kraton™ G1633 (Foamed Bulbs)
- Kraton™ G1651, Kraton™ G1641, Kraton™ MD6951, Kraton™ MD1648 (Encapsulation)
Features
- Easy processability
- Low compression set properties
- Fast cycle time
- Can be reprocessed and recycled
- Cold temperature flexibility
Benefits
- Good sealing performance
- Higher flow properties
- Fewer quality defects in final application
- Less glass damage
- More efficient compounding
- Enhanced adhesion properties for corner molding, over molding lower durometer soft surface on rigid parts and “butt” molding of seal systems