High-recycled-content tpe arrives, reshaping new eco-friendly track for automotive sealing systems

As the global automotive industry accelerates its transition toward green and low-carbon development, the innovative application of environmentally friendly materials has become a core competitive advantage for companies seeking to capture market share. Recently, an important development has emerged in the global materials sector: thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) with high recycled content are increasingly being adopted for automotive sealing systems. A number of industry giants have successively launched related innovative products that not only meet sealing performance requirements but also advance sustainability goals, injecting new momentum into the green upgrading of the automotive industry.

Core Highlights:

High-recovery content TPE can directly replace traditional materials without changing existing production processes, ensuring core performance such as sealing, wear resistance, and weather resistance, while significantly reducing carbon emissions, aligning with the new environmental regulations and lightweight trends in the automotive industry.

I. Industry Pain Points: The Environmental Transformation of Automotive Sealing Systems Is Urgently Needed

As a critical component of the whole vehicle, the automotive sealing system is widely used in doors, windows, sunroofs, trunks, and other parts, where it plays important roles in waterproofing, dust prevention, sound insulation, and vibration damping. The performance of its materials directly affects the vehicle’s comfort, safety, and durability.

For a long time, automotive seals have mostly been made from traditional materials such as EPDM rubber and PVC, which present two major pain points: first, insufficient environmental friendliness—traditional rubber is difficult to recycle, can cause environmental pollution after disposal, and involves high energy consumption during production; second, low processing efficiency—for example, EPDM rubber requires vulcanization, resulting in long production cycles that cannot meet the automotive industry’s demand for efficient mass production.

At the same time, increasingly stringent global environmental regulations, such as the EU’s RoHS and REACH standards, have imposed more demanding requirements on the recyclability and carbon emissions of automotive materials. Coupled with the growing demand from new energy vehicles for lightweight and low-VOC (volatile organic compound) solutions, traditional sealing materials can no longer meet the needs of industry development, making the search for environmentally friendly, high-performance alternative materials an inevitable trend.

II. Core Breakthrough: The Dual Advantages of “Performance + Sustainability” in High-Recycled-Content TPE

Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) combines the elasticity of rubber with the processability of plastic. It requires no vulcanization, can be directly injection molded or extruded, and can be 100% recycled and reused, making it an ideal alternative to traditional materials. Recently launched TPE with high recycled content further enhances environmental performance while retaining excellent usability, with the following specific advantages:

High proportion of recycled content, with prominent low-carbon attributes

The industry has already launched a variety of TPE products with high recycled content, with the recycled component accounting for up to 56%. The recycled feedstock includes both post-industrial waste and post-consumer recycled materials, enabling a closed-loop production model of “waste reutilization.” For example, the TPE compound jointly developed by KRAIBURG TPE and automotive supplier SaarGummi contains 56% recycled material and can be directly used in sealing systems without requiring any changes to existing processing methods.

Hutchinson Group has launched two new TPE products, containing 37% and 29% sustainable components, respectively. The revea TPE 428, which contains 37% sustainable components, can reduce carbon emissions by 25% compared to traditional materials, while the other product can reduce emissions by 16%, demonstrating significant environmental benefits.

2. No compromise on performance, meeting the stringent requirements of sealing systems.

High-recovery content TPE, through formula optimization, completely matches or even surpasses traditional materials in core performances such as sealing, wear resistance, weather resistance, and high and low-temperature resistance, addressing the industry's challenge of "environmental protection and performance cannot coexist."

Sealing and noise reduction: After foamed TPE-S replaces conventional EPDM rubber, the material density can be reduced to 0.65–0.75 g/cm³, and the long-term compression set (100°C × 70 h) can be controlled within 25%, effectively improving sealing performance while reducing vehicle door closing noise by about 1.5 dB at the NI level, meeting the quietness requirements of new energy vehicles.

Weather Resistance and Durability: The specially formulated high-recycling TPE has excellent UV and ozone resistance, allowing it to operate stably within a wide temperature range of -50℃ to 130℃. This prevents issues such as cracking, discoloration, and aging during long-term use, extending the lifespan of seals.

Low-VOC and environmentally friendly: Bio-based plasticizers and other optimized formulations are used to significantly reduce total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), lowering VOC emissions by more than 40%. It meets automotive environmental standards and creates a healthy in-cabin environment for drivers and passengers.

3. Efficient processing and reduced production costs

High-recycled-content TPE retains the processing advantages of TPE materials and requires no vulcanization process. Its injection molding cycle takes only 40–60 seconds, compared with traditional EPDM rubber, which requires more than 10 minutes for vulcanization, greatly improving processing efficiency and reducing unit energy consumption by more than 30%. Meanwhile, its scrap and offcuts can achieve a reuse rate of 95%, further lowering companies’ raw material and waste disposal costs, thus delivering a “win-win” outcome for both environmental protection and economic benefits.

III. Industry Trends: Major Players Step Up Efforts, Accelerating the Implementation of High-Recycled-Content TPE Seals

Currently, globally renowned materials companies and automotive suppliers have begun to deploy high-recyclable content TPE in sealing systems, and related products have entered the stage of mass production and vehicle installation.

KRAIBURG TPE: Launches a TPE sealing compound containing 56% recycled content, developed on the basis of the proven THERMOLAST K series, which can be directly integrated into existing sealing applications without requiring any adjustments to processing parameters or performance specifications. The company has already partnered with automotive supplier SaarGummi to advance the product’s commercial application.

Hutchinson Group has developed two TPE products containing 37% and 29% sustainable content, respectively, in response to the needs of major European automakers. These products are used in components such as glass run channel seals and inner and outer beltline seals, and will be installed in two all-new vehicle models to be launched in 2026. They are currently in mass production in the European market, with plans to expand into the Americas in the future.

Domestic enterprises: Companies such as Xinou Automotive Parts and Shandong Tairifeng are also actively expanding their presence in this field. The TPV/TPE sealing products they have launched not only offer strong recyclability but also achieve lightweight upgrades. For example, one TPV seal is 35% lighter than traditional products and has already been supplied to more than 10 well-known domestic automakers, covering over 400 vehicle models.

IV. Future Outlook: High-Recovery TPE Leading the Green Transformation of Automotive Sealing Systems

With the advancement of the automotive industry's "dual carbon" goals and the continuous tightening of environmental regulations, the application of high-recyclable TPE in automotive sealing systems is expected to experience explosive growth. In the future, the industry will focus on breakthroughs in three major areas.

Enhance recycling content: Further optimize the formula and recycling technology to continuously increase the proportion of recycled components in TPE, while expanding the sources of recycled materials to achieve more efficient resource recycling.

Expand application scenarios: Gradually extend from automotive window and door seals to more complex scenarios such as engine compartment dust covers and battery pack cushioning seals, achieving “system-level” environmentally friendly substitution.

Technological innovation and upgrading: through molecular structure optimization, nano-filler modification, and other technologies, further improve the heat resistance, oil resistance, and creep resistance of highly recyclable TPE, while promoting the large-scale production of bio-based TPE to further reduce carbon emissions.

From traditional rubber to high-recycled-content TPE, the material transformation of automotive sealing systems is not only the implementation of environmental protection concepts, but also a reflection of the high-quality development of the automotive industry. With the core advantages of “meeting performance requirements, being environmentally friendly and low-carbon, and having controllable costs,” high-recycled-content TPE is gradually reshaping the market landscape for automotive sealing materials and injecting lasting momentum into the green transformation of the global automotive industry.