Industrial rollers are used in the manufacturing and processing of almost every material—from paper to coiled steel and plastic packaging to textiles.

The choice of elastomers based on styrene block copolymer (SBC) technology for tapes and labels has traditionally been split between solvent and hot-melt systems.

Over the last 50 years, the aerospace and aircraft industries have used silicone in an ever-growing number of applications. Silicone inherently has high dielectric strength (typically ≥ 500 V/mil) and a large coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), allowing it to absorb stresses during thermal cycling.

Kuraray recently broke ground on its greenfield Kuraray Poval (polyvinyl alcohol) plant in La Porte, Texas. This new plant will reportedly add to Kuraray’s portfolio of manufacturing in the U.S., including ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVAL) and co-block thermoplastic elastomers (SEPTON). Kuraray’s Poval plant will have a production capacity of over 40,000 tons in its first phase.