MOSCOW (MRC) -- Specialty chemicals company Lanxess has introduced the newly commercialized, ultra-high molecular weight EPDM grade Keltan 9565Q, which Lanxess believes will successfully replace natural rubber in dynamic applications, as per the company's statement.
Increasingly sophisticated automotive and industrial applications require improved high temperature performance which natural rubber, known to degrade quickly at elevated temperatures, cannot provide. "Keltan 9565Q with its tailored molecular structure matches the strength and resilience of natural rubber, while also maintaining these superior properties after high temperature exposure," explains Niels van der Aar, Head of Technical Service & Application Development for Lanxess Keltan Elastomers business.
"That high temperature resistance also enables Keltan 9565Q to be processed at elevated temperatures, thus improving molding productivity and reducing costs," says van der Aar.
"The saturated polymer backbone gives EPDM its superior ozone, UV, and heat resistance properties. Taking advantage of these benefits has long been of interest for dynamic applications, but only now with Keltan 9565Q does EPDM also offer the strength, fatigue resistance, and resilience achieved by natural rubber at lower temperatures," van der Aar concludes.
EPDM, which Lanxess offers under the brand name Keltan, is used for the manufacture of door sealants, hoses, belts or anti-vibration parts. The product is also used in plastic modification, wire and cable, construction and oil additives.
As MRC wrote previously, last July, Lanxess celebrated the opening of its first production facility in Russia. In the new plant at the Lipetsk site, Lanxess subsidiary Rhein Chemie manufactures polymer-bound rubber additives for the markets in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), primarily for the automotive and tire industries. A production facility for the bladders used in tire production is to be added in 2016. The overall investment volume in euros amounts to a seven-digit figure.
Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and roughly 17,300 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC