Achieving color stability is a crucial challenge in the world of engineering lightly-colored thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs). But product-specific applications come with many other requirements as well.
For example, low volatility may be required to keep extender oils from evaporating under high heat, or rubber compatibility may be important for extending volume in EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) products.
Engineers can find it difficult to find process oils that are both highly solvent (typically naphthenic) and color stable (typically paraffinic). Thankfully, a new process oil option is helping engineers find the “sweet spot” for their applications.
Paraffinic and Naphthenic Process Oils
Paraffinic process oils are commonly used as extenders in TPE and EPDM products. They have low aromatic content and are relatively inert.
This contributes to their soft-touch and color stability, highly desirable for products like footwear and automotive interior moldings. Low volatility gives paraffinic oil a lower risk of mobility and offgassing, maintaining suppleness for the life of the product.
In addition to those mentioned above, applications for these oils include:
- insulation,
- textiles,
- furniture polish,
- weather stripping, and
- many more.
Naphthenic oils are generally not so color-stable. The trade-off for using naphthenic oils is that they have a higher solvency, especially when dissolving polar materials.
This quality is crucial for many applications. If paraffins are used in place of naphthenics, they may rise to the surface, and cause hardness and brittleness in the final product.
Major applications of naphthenic oils include:
- Some hot-melt adhesives (like hot glue guns),
- Lightly-colored rubber and elastomer gaskets,
- Some resins and polymers, and
- Some sealants and lubricants
The desirable traits of paraffinic and naphthenic oils seem to be mutually exclusive, forcing engineers either to sacrifice color for solvency or vice versa. So which oil do you choose when you need a color-stable process oil that also has a high solvency?
Bridging the Gap: Renoil 500-X
Renoil 500-X, a highly refined, naphthenic, color-stable process oil, is the solution to this problem. Prior to its development, there was only one other product on the market with these characteristics. Benefits of Renoil 500-X include:
- More stable than most naphthenic oils
- Higher solvency than most paraffinic oils
- Light in color, with less than 1.0 ASTM Color
Our goal with this product is to provide more supply security to what was previously an undiversified market. By bringing our logistical expertise to this specific niche we hoped to make it widely and reliably available to producers who needed it.
“A Win-Win-Win Scenario”: Making Signal Fluid Solutions Your Color Stable Process Oil Supplier
Signal Fluid Solutions is proud to offer Renoil 500-X to expand access to this important color-stable process oil formulation. Its development speaks to who we’ve been as a company for four decades.
We are problem solvers.
From logistics expertise to technical know-how and years of industry experience, we have the ability, creativity, and determination to find a solution. When we don’t find a good solution in the market, we create one.
We are responsive.
We are deeply established and connected with our business partners in the many industries that we supply, staying abreast of new developments and sensitive to the needs of many different niches.
We are everywhere you need us to be.
With locations across the U.S. and Europe, you can rely on Signal Fluid Solutions to keep you supplied on time and on budget. Our redundant supply points allow us to maintain supply, even when hurricanes and other catastrophic events affect major supply routes.
If that sounds like the kind of supplier you’d be interested in working with, or you have questions about how our specialty oils can be a good fit for your product, we are here to help: contact us today!
