NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC ELASTOMERS

To meet its customers' needs, TOTAL FLUIDS offers several ranges of products traditionally used in elastomers:

• solvents or special-boiling-point spirits (SBPs): SOLANE range
• hydrocarbon plasticizers: PLAXOLENE®, PLAXENE® and EXAROL® ranges

SOLANE SBP spirits are essentially used in the tyre industry to facilitate adhesion between the framework and the elastomer blend. They are also used in industrial elastomers as well as in retreading and polishing processes.

Plasticizers are used to facilitate the implementation of elastomer blends during the manufacturing thereof, by improving namely viscosity and flowing properties. They also improve the mechanical properties of the elastomer after the vulcanization process.

SOLANE: Solvents or special-boiling-point spirits

The products in the TOTAL FLUIDS SOLANE range are SBP-type aliphatic solvents.

By aiming to provide users with products having lower toxicological and ecotoxicological values than the legally applicable levels, TOTAL has managed to significantly decrease the aromatic content of SOLANE products.

These products contain VERY LOW levels of aromatic compounds, 10 ppm being a typical value, thus offering users greater flexibility of formulation when manufacturing their products.

In particular, the products in this SOLANE range contain less than 1 ppm of BENZENE (<=5ppm guaranteed)

PLAXOLENE®: Non-labelled Aromatic Plasticizers

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Changes to European regulations concerning thinning oils used in tyre manufacturing represent a fundamental alteration in this field.

The European directive 2005/69/EC forbids the use of plasticizers with high polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content in tyres as from 01.01.2010. 

The various products in the PLAXOLENE® range have PAH rates below the limits of this directive and may therefore replace the Distillates aromatic extracts (DAE) used today.

The characteristics of these oils are namely:

• no labelling required under applicable European regulations,
• low aniline points, and therefore high solvent power,
• low volatility,
• good compatibility with polar elastomers, especially: NR, SBR, NBR, etc.

PLAXOLENE® MS is an MES-type plasticizer (Mild Extract Solvate) meeting the requirements defined by the BLIC (Bureau de Liaison de l'Industrie du Caoutchouc, Rubber Industry Liaison Office), now known as the ETRMA (European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers' Association) and is recommended as a technical alternative to DAEs.

PLAXOLENE® 50 is an RAE (Residual Aromatic Extract) that can be used in the formulation of industrial elastomers and also, to a certain extent, for tyres.

PLAXOLENE® 25 is a product containing RAEs and vegetable oil with high solvent power and viscosity similar to traditional DAEs used in tyre manufacturing.

EXAROL®: Labelled Aromatic Plasticizers

>> Download technical characteristics of the Plasticisers range

These plasticizers are aromatic extracts commonly referred to as DAEs (Distillated Aromatic Extracts). They feature the following characteristics:

• low aniline points (<40°C / 104°F) for product types used in tyres and therefore high solvent power,
• high density,
• good compatibility with elastomers with certain polar features: natural rubber, Styrene-Butadiene, Chlorinated Elastomers, NBR, IR. etc.

Use of such products as thinning oils in tyre manufacturing will be banned as of 01.01.2010

PLAXENE®: Non-labelled paraffinic plasticizers

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These water-white and non-staining products are pure paraffinic based mineral oils used to manufacture industrial elastomers.

The products in the PLAXENE® range have the following features:

- high aniline points (>90°C / 194°F),
- low volatility,
- good compatibility with low-polarity or apolar elastomers, namely EDPM, Butyl, Polybutadiene.