Innovation Story

Advanced Thermoplastic Elastomers

The New High-Performance Alternative to Silicone Rubber

As regulatory scrutiny increases and demand grows for more sustainable, compliant, and cost-effective materials, manufacturers are seeking alternatives that can deliver silicone-like performance without the limitations of conventional silicone systems. Oil-free TPS compounds offer an opportunity to address performance, processing, and sustainability requirements in a single material platform.

Challenge

Traditional thermoplastic elastomers (TPS) often rely on significant oil content. Over time, oil can contribute to evaporation and deposition of oily substances, resulting in fogging, increased VOC emissions, and the release of substances identified through leachables and extractables testing. These concerns can affect product purity and safety, particularly in sensitive applications.

Silicone rubber has historically been used for high-performance applications because of its heat resistance, durability, versatility, and biocompatibility. However, it can also present higher raw material and processing costs, longer cure cycles, and limited recyclability at end of life. These limitations have increased demand for alternative materials that can provide comparable performance while improving processing and sustainability.

Innovation

Kraton’s MD1672 is designed to enable the development of oil-free TPS compounds with significantly improved performance characteristics. The material provides lower migration limits, excellent leachables and extractables behavior in aqueous systems, and odor-free formulations while supporting compliance with applicable food contact regulations.

Compared with traditional high-styrene butadiene copolymers (HSBC), MD1672 also provides substantially lower melt viscosity, supporting both extrusion and injection molding. Its recyclability during production and at end of life offers compounders and converters an additional benefit in applications where environmental impact and processing efficiency are important.

By combining an oil-free formulation with silicone-like performance, MD1672 provides an alternative for applications requiring strong performance, regulatory compliance, and improved recyclability.

Key Findings

Testing showed that TPS compounds formulated with MD1672 provided significant performance advantages compared with traditional oiled TPS compounds. In compression set testing, oil-free compounds using MD1672 demonstrated up to 30% improvement at room temperature. At 70°C (158°F), testing demonstrated up to 10% improvement before annealing.

Materials formulated with MD1672 also exhibited reduced fogging, lower VOCs, lower leachables, and excellent barrier properties. Together, these results support
improvements in durability, product cleanliness, and overall material performance.

Market(s):
Highlights
  • Enables development of high-performance oil-free TPS compounds
  • Supports food contact compliance and odor-free formulations
  • Provides lower melt viscosity than traditional HSBC materials
  • Improves recyclability during production and end-of-life processing
  • Delivers enhanced barrier properties and mechanical performance
Conclusion

MD1672 provides compounders, converters, and brand owners with an oil-free TPS option for demanding consumer and medical applications. Its combination of lower VOCs and leachables, improved barrier and mechanical properties, processing compatibility, and recyclability supports applications traditionally served by oil-based TPS compounds and, in some cases, silicone rubber.

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