Tohpe Selects North American Distributor
Tohpe Corporation has selected ChemRep to serve as its North American distributor of polyacrylate (ACM) elastomers. Based in Sakei, Japan, Tohpe accounts for roughly 30% of the world's total polyacrylate elastomer production. Polyacrylate elastomers have historically been used in the manufacture of seals, especially those used as transmission seals because of their tolerance to heat and aliphatic hydrocarbons.
Recently a new generation of polyacrylate elastomers has been introduced. These new products are even more resistant to heat than previous products. The new generation of polyacrylates is able to withstand temperatures of 175C while previous generations were not recommended for use above 150C. Polyacrylate elastomers are now being used for manufacturing products such as oil pan gaskets, automotive air conditioning hoses, automotive transmission hoses, and turbocharger hoses.
Oil pan gaskets have traditionally been made of silicone rubber. However silicone is quite expensive and is not as resistant to aliphatic hydrocarbons as polyacrylate elastomers are. As a result, oil pan gaskets made of silicone rubber tend to leak after a certain amount of time. If you have a car that is more than three years old, take a look at the area where you park your car in the driveway or garage - that leak you see is very likely the result of the failure of your engine's silicone oil pan gasket. Because of this, Asian and European automobile manufacturers now specify polyacrylate as the elastomer of choice for oil pan gaskets. North American auto manufacturers have not made this change yet, but they are expected to do so in the near future.
ChemRep is now keeping an inventory of Tohpe's polyacrylate elastomers in our Chicago warehouse. If your company is a manufacturer of transmission seals, oil pan gaskets, or hoses used in automotive turbochargers, air conditioning systems, or automatic transmission systems, please contact us to learn more about these products.