Innovative Thermoplastic For Industrial And Automotive Hoses

摘要

Automotive and industrial tubes and hoses are not easy to handle and their heavy weight makes them very costly. These tubes are made of either with thermoplastics or with thermoset rubber, and they are not eco-friendly. The cross-linked rubber and materials such as polyamides use plasticizers such as phthalates that are harmful for the environment. Moreover they cannot be recycled. Sources at DSM Engineering Plastics, a company headquartered in Sittard, Netherlands, predict that these tubes can be refined by the use of a material called Arnitel thermoplastic copolymer (TPC)-based elastomer. The company claims that this innovative material has the combined flexibility of thermoset rubber and strength and processabilty of thermoplastics even without the need for vulcanization. This material can give designers the freedom to deliver a range of desirable properties for the automotive and industrial environments.