Air ducts made with SantopreneTM thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) meet long-term sealing requirements, reduce energy consumption during production, and can be recycled during the manufacturing process.

South Korean automaker XX needed a lighter, more energy-efficient solution for short air ducts on its MD, RB and UB platforms. In order to find mature materials suitable for engineering air intake system applications, to meet long-term sealing requirements and noise, vibration and comfort (NVH) standards, XX chose Santoprene TPV.

Weight loss solution

In short air duct applications, compared to traditional materials such as NBR/PVC (nitrile rubber plus polyvinyl chloride), CR (polychloroprene), ECO (chlorinated rubber), CPE (chlorinated polyethylene rubber) ) and EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber, Santoprene TPV is lighter in weight.

The short air duct used by XX Company was manufactured by a Korean first-class supplier through an injection molding process using an improved traditional rubber mold design.

“Using Santoprene TPV provides an opportunity to reduce weight, combined with other weight reduction designs, to help us improve fuel efficiency,” said H.C. Lee, representative of XX. “For example, air ducts produced using Santoprene TPV are typically 20% to 30% lighter than air ducts produced from thermoset rubber.”

Lower energy consumption

In the production process, Santoprene TPV consumes less energy than conventional materials used in air intake systems. When using Santoprene TPV to produce air ducts, no heat vulcanization is required in the production process. Compared with EPDM rubber blending, the energy consumption can be reduced by 50%, and the processing cycle is usually 1 to 1.5 minutes. The EPDM rubber needs to be vulcanized, and the processing cycle is usually 4 minutes.

Simplified production process

Injection molded air ducts are heat welded to polypropylene resonators and conduits, simplifying the production process for air intake system components. This process eliminates the need for clamps and reduces the number of parts required and labor.

All waste from the SantopreneTM TPV process can be recycled directly to the hopper, thus helping to reduce waste in the overall manufacturing process.

“We would recommend using these light intake systems using Santoprene TPV on other new models produced in other regions,” said Mr. Y.K. Seo, manager.

Santoprene TPV has many years of experience in automotive air intake systems and has been successfully applied to a variety of short air ducts worldwide.