Nylon Corp. of America Inc. (NYCOA; Manchester, NH) has launched an extended product family of polyamide-based thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), also known as polyether-block-amides (PEBA), for a range of applications in the automotive, sporting goods, personal electronics, composite and specialty films markets. The company discussed this announcement at NPE2018, where it is exhibiting in booth S19125.

The Ny-Flex elastomer range is a new and innovative class of engineering thermoplastic elastomers (E-TPE) based on nylon (polyamide). These materials are block copolymers of polyamide and polyether segments. The nylon block is the hard segment and the polyether block is the soft, flexible part.

“These materials have been designed to fill a technology gap in the E-TPE material space,” said Pratik Shah, Vice President of New Business Development for NYCOA. “During the extensive development cycle, our customers have repeadedly pointed out the need for E-TPEs with superior performance characteristics and the need to lower overall systems cost. We believe that our NY-Flex grades deliver incredible value to the customer compared to other E-TPEs.”

NY-Flex grades are hybrid materials that offer a unique combination of rubber-like elastomeric properties and thermoplastic-like processing capabilities. By varying the type and ratio of the two blocks, a wide range of NY-Flex grades can be offered. They exhibit a broad range of performance attributes in terms of impact toughness and flexibility, along with processing advantages. NYCOA currently offers grades ranging in hardness from 28 Shore D to 90 Shore A.

“NY-Flex grades, belonging to the E-TPE class of materials, offer excellent elastomeric characteristics combined with superior thermal resistance and chemical resistance,” Shah explained to PlasticsToday. “In addition to these technical advantages, the key driver for several customers is the lower overall cost with NY-Flex. They can achieve 20 to 30% savings compared to other E-TPEs, due to a lower resin price, faster processing cycles and lower specific gravity.”

Shah added that NYCOA is working with customers in a broad application area, “including automotive under-the-hood components, specialty films, industrial belting, tubing and sporting goods.”  

Benefits of NYCOA’s E-TPEs include flexibility at low temperatures, retention of properties at elevated temperatures, toughness and resilience, creep resistance, and strong resistance to flex fatigue. They also feature abrasion resistance and superior resistance to greases, oils and solvents, and are easily processed using thermoplastic processing techniques. 

NYCOA is currently working closely with processors, Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs on a wide range of applications using NY-FLEX E-TPEs.