New Series: Materials make the difference / Materials are part of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ DNA.
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) has been successful with a wide range of applications in many market segments. There is no shortage of explanations for this, but one stands out: the ability to innovate. FST has the capacity to meet new, demanding sealing requirements again and again.
Aside from expertise in developing appropriate seal designs, this challenge requires one thing in particular – material competency. The bottom line is that the material determines a seal’s key characteristics. Freudenberg has the know-how to develop made-to-order materials that precisely meet the requirements profile of a specific sealing application. And FST is able to produce these materials on its own, in uniform quality in mixing plants around the world. The material thus becomes a guarantee of quality and success.
FST has been committed to the science of building in-depth material expertise for decades. This takes a joint effort – the company calls it “innovating together” – involving lead centers and central functions, engineering by experts with years of experience, sophisticated material models, calculations, and testing and simulation procedures. Another key to success is the use of advanced technical equipment such as high-tech test stands for real-world component analyses.
In-house development
In-house material development leads to the in-house production of rubber, or in technical terms, elastomers. They are best known by their abbreviations, including HNBR, ACM, FKM and FFKM. For decades, FST’s material portfolio has been rounded out with multifaceted rubber-metal composites, seals made of polyurethane and – for especially demanding requirements – PTFE. Incidentally, FST produces TPU and PTFE in-house as well.
In the plastics realm, the so-called thermoplastics are becoming more important. Due to their new requirements, new markets and applications in batteries, fuel cells and electrolyzers need new materials and multi-component material combinations with extremely specific characteristics. Here FST is increasingly looking beyond the boundaries of the classic sealing business and developing solutions such as heat shields, cell caps and housings, with or without integrated sealing functions. In this “new world” as well, material expertise is opening doors to the company’s future success.
In the coming weeks, we will take a look at some individual materials and FST’s unique materials expertise.
