Hahn Elastomer Corporation Licenses Unique Tokiwa Extrusion Technology
28 March 2000
Hahn Elastomer Corporation Licenses Unique Tokiwa Extrusion Technology
PLYMOUTH, Mich., March 27 Hahn Elastomer Corporation, a
supplier of high quality plastic and elastomeric extrusions and die-cut
products for the automotive, appliance and furniture industries, announced it
has finalized a licensing agreement with Tokiwa America granting Hahn
Elastomer access to a revolutionary new extrusion process. The announcement
was made by Richard Ferrari, chairman of Hahn Elastomer Corporation.
"Our strategy has always been to advance new technologies to help solve
customer problems and lower costs," said Ferrari. "We don't want to be a 'me
too' extruder. This technology, together with others like TPV foam and
corrugated strut boots, position Hahn Elastomer as a leader in our industry --
particularly today, as the automotive companies migrate away from rubber
sealing technologies to plastics."
Under the terms of the March 3 agreement, Hahn Elastomer, ATREX, Inc. and
Plastigage Corporation (two companies recently acquired by Hahn Elastomer) now
have access to four patents Tokiwa holds for the manufacture of automotive
glass sealing weather strips. The agreement applies to products manufactured
in North America and is good for the life of the patent.
"With the automotive OEMs looking for alternatives to rubber sealing, the
timing of this technology is positioned well for the industry," said William
Kemner, president of Hahn Elastomer Corporation. "The major component is a
blend of dynamically vulcanized rubber and olefin-based thermoplastic. This
material blend combines the performance characteristics of elastomers with the
processing advantages of thermoplastics -- providing superior sealing
performance relative to existing materials such as EPDM rubber and PVC."
The resulting tri-extrusion is unique because of its self-lubricating
properties and unsurpassed abrasion resistance. Another unique feature
provided by the technology is the ability to selectively place the resin
anywhere on the part and at varying thicknesses for high durability areas.
Using this technique, a single part can be constructed from up to five
co-extrusions in order to optimize both cost and performance.
Parts manufactured with this technology are less expensive to produce
because they do not need to be vulcanized, and no metal carrier or flocking is
required. The parts are also lighter because they lack the traditional metal
carrier found in existing EPDM profiles.
Other benefits of this technology include:
* Superior tear strength
* Superior cold temperature performance
* Improved durability and abrasion resistance
* Greater design flexibility in developing injection molded corners with
fewer tools required for a given volume
* Excellent resistance to chemicals and weathering
* Greater sealing forces without an increase in window roll-up effort
* Extremely low coefficient of friction
* More stability in friction properties for reduced "stick-slip" forces
* Complete recyclability
* Improved corner strength and superior corner appearance with no flash
trimming or adhesive required for corner molding
* The use of a polyolefin resin that outperforms flocking or urethane
coatings
* No blooming, rubber smell or surface migration of oils or plasticizers
* Typically a 30 percent reduction in weight over EPDM constructed seals
* Greater process control resulting in higher quality and more consistent
parts
After three years of testing, the technology is currently in use on the
Toyota Vitz in Japan. It is also scheduled for production on other vehicles
in Japan this year.