TPE Elastomers: Pioneering High-Performance Materials, Orinko Accelerates Industry Advancement
In the booming development of materials science, elastomer materials like TPE (thermoplastic elastomers) have emerged as highly sought-after high-performance materials due to their outstanding properties and immense potential. From everyday items to advanced manufacturing, they are ubiquitous and are driving industrial innovation. At the forefront of this trend, Orinko has achieved significant breakthroughs in high-performance elastomer materials, demonstrating strong technological capabilities and injecting powerful momentum into China's advanced materials sector.
I. Gap Between Domestic and International Products
In the field of elastomers such as TPE, foreign companies started earlier. Many internationally renowned enterprises hold a clear advantage in high value-added product development and production process stability, thanks to years of technological accumulation and R&D investment. These companies possess advanced formulation technologies and synthesis/modification techniques, enabling them to produce TPE products with superior performance and consistent quality, thus dominating the global high-end market.
In recent years, Chinese companies have made rapid progress in the research and production of TPE. Companies like Orinko have narrowed the gap with foreign competitors through independent innovation and technology introduction, gaining strong competitiveness in the mid-to-low-end markets.
However, in the high-end segment—such as TPE products with specific performance requirements (e.g., ultra-high heat resistance, wear resistance, or biocompatibility)—there is still a technological and quality gap between domestic and foreign products. Some key technologies and raw materials remain dependent on imports. Yet, with increasing R&D investments and strengthened collaboration between enterprises, universities, and research institutes, domestic firms have achieved breakthroughs in niche areas, and are poised to gradually break foreign technological monopolies.
II. Material Characteristics of Orinko’s TPE
TPE is a distinctive class of polymers that combines the elasticity of rubber with the processability of plastics. According to ISO 18064, TPE materials are classified into six main types:
TPA (thermoplastic polyamide elastomer)
TPC (thermoplastic polyester elastomer)
TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer)
TPV (thermoplastic vulcanizate)
TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer)
TPS (styrenic block copolymers)
Thanks to its unique molecular structure and microstructure, TPE exhibits rubber-like flexibility at room temperature and easily undergoes stretching, compression, and bending, offering excellent elasticity.
But TPE’s advantages go well beyond flexibility. It features outstanding thermal resistance, typically operating between -50°C and 100°C, and even withstanding up to 150°C for short durations. This ensures stable performance in extreme temperatures, making it reliable in both frigid and scorching conditions.
Because its structure lacks unsaturated bonds, TPE offers excellent aging resistance, significantly extending the material’s service life and reducing maintenance and replacement costs. Its chemical and solvent resistance is equally impressive, showing reliable stability against oils, solvents, acids, and bases, making it widely applicable in sectors like chemical engineering and healthcare.
TPE is also a green, eco-friendly material. It contains no heavy metals and avoids the use of toxic phthalate plasticizers, meeting stringent environmental standards like the FDA. This makes it an ideal alternative to traditional materials such as PVC.
In terms of processing, TPE can be molded directly via injection molding, simplifying production and shortening cycle times. It also allows for easy recycling of defective products, improving efficiency and reducing environmental impact.
Moreover, by flexibly adjusting the formulation and ratios, TPE can be customized with diverse properties and hardness levels—from very soft to relatively rigid—to meet specific product requirements. It supports multiple processing methods, including injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, calendering, and casting, making it suitable for a wide range of complex manufacturing processes.
III. Orinko’s Breakthroughs in Elastomer Materials
Orinko places great emphasis on R&D in elastomer materials, assembling a professional team to delve into molecular structures and performance mechanisms. The company has successfully mastered a series of core technologies.
In terms of formulation design, Orinko tailors material properties to suit different application scenarios. Through extensive testing and optimization, they precisely adjust component ratios. For example, to meet the stringent requirements of automotive interior and exterior components, engine surroundings, and chassis parts—particularly for fluid resistance, aging resistance, and heat resistance—Orinko developed specialized formulations by incorporating specific additives and modifiers, significantly enhancing the chemical and thermal resistance of the elastomers.
In automotive interiors, Orinko successfully developed polar injection-molded skin materials as a replacement for slush-molded PVC, achieving major commercial success. For automotive chassis systems, they have created lightweight TPV coolant hoses with long-term liquid and high-temperature resistance as an alternative to EPDM materials, which are now in use at several leading new energy vehicle manufacturers.
On the processing front, Orinko has overcome challenges in controlling temperature, pressure, and timing during elastomer synthesis. Taking TPE as an example, the company has improved production equipment and processes, enabling precise control over reaction conditions and minimizing performance fluctuations due to parameter deviations.
At the same time, Orinko is actively exploring advanced processing techniques, such as crosslinking modification and polymer blending, to further optimize processing performance while ensuring material consistency.
Thanks to their excellent performance, Orinko’s elastomer materials have seen expanding market applications. In the automotive sector, Orinko collaborates with leading car manufacturers. In addition to conventional uses like seals and interior parts, their materials are now used in CV joint boots with high fatigue resistance, high-temperature air ducts, as well as critical parts in new energy vehicles such as vibration dampening components, battery sealing systems, and charging interface covers. The high elasticity and insulation properties of these materials significantly improve battery safety and sealing, supporting the growth of the EV industry.
In the electronics and electrical sector, Orinko has made notable strides in 5G communication devices. To address the heat dissipation and electromagnetic shielding challenges posed by high-frequency, high-speed operations, Orinko developed elastomer products with high thermal conductivity and shielding properties. These are used in thermal pads, shielding housings, and other components, enhancing both performance and reliability of 5G equipment.
In the emerging wearable tech market, Orinko has introduced soft, skin-friendly, and highly elastic elastomer materials that are widely used in products like smart wristbands and earbud tips, delivering a comfortable user experience and setting a new trend in wearable materials.
The competition in modified materials is essentially a competition for control over the industrial value chain. Every breakthrough in Chinese materials is reshaping the global industrial landscape. Looking ahead, as green manufacturing and intelligent technologies converge, China’s elastomer industry is poised not only to achieve technological independence but also to become a new global benchmark for high-performance materials.
