Kraiburg TPE develops 56% recycled-content sealing compound

Kraiburg TPE has developed a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) compound for automotive sealing applications containing approximately 56% recycled content, derived from post-industrial and post-consumer recyclates. The material, developed in collaboration with automotive supplier SaarGummi, is based on the company’s established THERMOLAST K product series and is designed to integrate into existing sealing applications without changes to processing or performance parameters.

Development work began in 2023, with the stated goal of increasing recycled raw material content while maintaining the mechanical load capacity, environmental resistance and processability required for automotive production. Testing conducted at an early project stage confirmed that the recycling variant met the relevant requirements and could be reliably incorporated into industrial production processes.

Kraiburg TPE said the new formulation also reduces the product carbon footprint compared with the previous material variant, though no specific figures were disclosed.

In a statement, Alexander Mayer, Senior Business Development Manager at Kraiburg TPE, said: “Our aim was to design a materials solution that saves more resources, while meeting the high quality standards of the automotive industry.”

Sebastien Roux, TPE Material and Process Specialist at SaarGummi, added: “The new material meets the requirements of our application and can be reliably combined with existing components. At the same time, the increased recycling content makes an important contribution to greater sustainability.”

Source: Kraiburg TPE