Above the curve performance for automotive and wearables with Kraiburg TPE

Automotive interior gear lever with soft-touch surface

Automotive gear levers serve as a key interface between driver and vehicle, enabling precise control over gear selection. While the internal mechanism governs the actual shifting process, the outer gear lever handle plays a crucial role in driver interaction, influencing comfort, grip, and overall driving experience. A well-designed gear lever surface enhances tactile control and contributes to a more confident and enjoyable drive. The use of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) in gear lever handles provides an optimal balance of softness, grip, and durability. With their versatile material properties, TPEs support consistent performance under repeated use while enhancing the perceived quality of automotive interiors.

Kraiburg TPE, a global manufacturer of TPEs and customised solutions for various industries, offers Thermolast K TPE solutions highly suitable for use as advanced gear lever materials that fulfill performance specifications for automotive applications.

Comfort, grip, and long-term performance - The Thermolast K series delivers a soft-touch surface with dry haptics, providing enhanced grip and improved tactile feedback during gear shifting. This contributes to better control and driving comfort, particularly in frequent or prolonged use scenarios. The material maintains consistent surface properties under typical automotive interior conditions, including temperature variations and continuous human contact, ensuring long-lasting performance and user satisfaction.

Design flexibility and process efficiency - With excellent bonding to PP, PC, ABS and PA, THERMOLAST® K series enables efficient overmoulding of soft-touch surfaces onto rigid substrates. This supports streamlined manufacturing of multi-component gear lever designs while allowing greater flexibility in shape, texture, and ergonomic styling. The material is easy to process and suitable for complex geometries, giving automotive designers more freedom to create differentiated interior components.

Aesthetic appeal and interior compliance - Available in natural and black, the Thermolast K series supports a wide range of colour customisation options, enhancing the visual appeal of vehicle interiors. The materials are formulated to meet stringent automotive interior standards for low odor and low emissions, making them well-suited for enclosed cabin environments. In addition, the compounds are halogen-free and support in-process recycling, contributing to more sustainable manufacturing practices.

Proven compliance with automotive standards -Thermolast K compounds comply with key automotive interior requirements, including fogging (DIN 75201-B), odor (VDA 270 B3), flammability (FMVSS 302), and colour fastness (DIN EN ISO 105-B06). They are also approved by major OEMs, including VW 50123, BMW GS 93042, and Mercedes-Benz DBL 1262, ensuring reliability and acceptance in global automotive production.

Durable Car Mirror Gaskets with UV/AP Series

Out of sight, but never out of function - car mirror gaskets discreetly do the work most drivers never notice. These unobtrusive yet vital components seal the gaps between the mirror housing and the vehicle body, keeping out water, dust, and wind. Mirror gaskets serve a dual purpose: they reduce vibration and noise, keeping mirrors stable for clear visibility and safer driving, while also creating a more polished exterior finish. TPEs suit sealing applications due to their soft, elastic properties, delivering reliable sealing performance, durability, and resistance to varying environmental conditions. 

Kraiburg TPE’s UV/AP series with excellent sealing performance, durability, design flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, as well as the added benefit of recyclability, making them suitable for demanding applications such as automotive seals, gaskets, and trim.

Weathering resiliency for dependable performance - UV/AP series enhances mirror gaskets with exceptional UV and weathering resistance, enabling them to retain their structure, mechanical integrity, and appearance under harsh environmental conditions while ensuring dependable performance over the vehicle’s service life.

Robust adhesion to PP for secure sealing - UV/AP series bonds well to polypropylene (PP), a common material for mirror housings, allowing flexible gaskets to integrate easily with rigid parts through insert moulding or overmoulding. This ensures secure attachment and reliable sealing. 

Material safety compliance and product circularity - UV/AP series meets key automotive standards and OEM requirements, including GM GMW17374, with a hardness range of 50–70 Shore A and a black colour option. Its formulation allows in-process recycling, enabling production scraps to be reused efficiently, reducing waste and boosting manufacturing sustainability while maintaining consistent quality and durability in vehicles.

Sustainable TPE solution for comfort and durability in smartwatch Straps 

A smartwatch does more than tell time—it tracks your activity, heart rate, sleep, and communicate via apps. Living a smart lifestyle means caring for yourself and the environment, and a smartwatch with components made of sustainable materials can be an interactive way to stay active and mindful of your lifestyle and the environment. Choosing high performance wearable device materials like TPEs with recycled components and low compound emissions aids in reducing e-waste while keeping the device durable and efficient.

Kraiburg TPE’s Thermolast R series, ideal for smartwatch components, delivering the performance users expect while also meeting the growing demand for sustainable TPE materials in consumer products application.

Sustainability at the fore, The Thermolast Rseries incorporates a hardness-dependent post-industrial recycled content ranging from 34% to 50%, allowing manufacturers to lower their environmental footprint without compromising product quality. The GRS-certified compound and recycled TPE material balances sustainability and reliable performance for high-volume electronics production.

Comfort and durability assured - Thermolast Rcompounds offer a smooth, non-sticky TPE surface and a premium tactile feel for smartwatch straps, taking user comfort up a notch. The smartwatch strap material’s optimised mechanical properties ensure durability against repeated bending, stretching, and daily handling, making the material ideal for long-term use in wearable devices. With excellent wear-resistance, the compounds keep smartwatch straps in top shape even with frequent use.

Seamless integration with rigid components - Thermolast Rexhibits excellent adhesion to engineering plastics such as PC, ABS, and PC/ABS in multi-component injection moulding, allowing soft strap elements to bond seamlessly with rigid smartwatch housings. Using this injection moulding TPE enhances product reliability and streamlines manufacturing, ensuring consistent quality in high-volume production.

Well-rounded design possibilities - ThermolastcustimR soft-touch TPE compounds are available in black and natural colours, with pre-colouration options that offer versatility for brand-specific aesthetics and product differentiation. Widely used as TPE in consumer electronics and wearable devices such as earphones, remote controls, gaming consoles, and other soft-touch components, they allow designers to create functional and visually appealing products across various applications.

Reinforcing functionality and performance of wrist orthoses

The digital era has a painful side—wrist injuries and other musculoskeletal problems can result from heavy use of computers and devices, often caused by repetitive movements, awkward wrist positions, and poor ergonomics, especially with continuous use without breaks. Wrist orthoses, custom-fitted braces or splints that support bones, tendons, nerves, joints, ligaments, and soft tissues, can provide relief and speed up healing by guiding wrist movement, restoring function, and reducing the risk of further injury. 

The biomedical industry increasingly uses flexible, versatile TPEs to provide a softer interface and adjustable stiffness, reducing the discomfort caused by rigid materials traditionally used in wrist-hand orthoses. 

Kraiburg TPE’s Thermolast H compounds that meet orthotic standards, offering durability, flexibility, and mouldability for customised fit in orthotic and assistive applications.

Precision and flexibility combined for user interfaces - Thermolast H series provides the soft, smooth touch needed for functional and user-interface parts of wrist orthoses, including adjustment buttons, rotary knobs, and soft-touch contact areas. The compounds ensure precise mechanical performance and consistent tactile feel even after repeated use, while offering good colourability for functional differentiation.

Stable adhesion for multi-material design - Thermolast H compounds adhere reliably to polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), enabling efficient overmoulding onto rigid orthosis components. They maintain dimensional stability under repeated stress, making them ideal for adjustment interfaces and other frequently used parts, while supporting ergonomic, efficient, and durable device designs.

Healthcare-approved sterilisation capability - Thermolast H withstands standard medical sterilisation methods, including autoclaving at 121°C and ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilisation, making it suitable for applications that require hygiene control. The series meets international standards and regulations such as GB 4806.7-2023, GB/T 16886.5, ISO 10993-5, Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, and US FDA CFR 21, ensuring safe use in applications with prolonged skin contact and medical device interfaces. They contain no animal-derived ingredients and meet regulations for use in healthcare environments. 

Sustainability from the get-go

At Kraiburg TPE, sustainability drives our innovation. Its portfolio includes bio-based TPEs and compounds with post-consumer (PCR) and post-industrial (PIR) recycled content. Selected TPEs are certified under GRS and ISCC PLUS. The company also provides Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) data upon request to support sustainability decisions. It earned the EcoVadis Gold Medal in 2025 and stands committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), aligning our its goals with global climate action. From reducing emissions to increasing circularity, our the manufacturer’s sustainable TPEs deliver reliable performance and are available worldwide to support your applications while advancing your sustainability goals. (Press Release)

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