Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) are among the most versatile polymeric materials finding a wide range of applications across a diverse set of industries including automotive, medical, electrical and electronics, footwear, and consumer goods. TPEs, either linear block copolymers composed of sequences of alternate hard and soft segments or blends of alternate amorphous and crystalline domains, are endowed with exceptional physical and chemical properties, rendering them an ideal alternative to conventional elastomers and certain thermoplastics.

Much like other thermoplastics, TPEs can be reprocessed multiple times, which is not possible with conventional elastomers, since they go through a vulcanization (cross-linking) step when processed.

This Frost Radar™ analysis assessed 17 leading TPE providers primarily on products including thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), polyether block amides (PEBA), styrene block copolymers (SBC), thermoplastic polyolefins (TPO), and thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), and their performance across 10 Growth and Innovation criteria to reveal their position on the Frost Radar™. The publication presents competitive profiles of each company considering their strengths and the opportunities that best fit those strengths.

Author: Brian Balmer