I. INTRODUCTION

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) are an extremely fast growing segment of polymer manufacturing. A rate of 5% growth per year is expected until 2007, at which time the total U.S. demand for these materials will reach 1.5 billion lb at a total annual sales of approximately 3 billion dollars per year [1]. The majority of this growth comes in the form of replacements for other types of materials, and the growth of so-called soft-touch surfaces. In the approximately 10 years since the second edition of this book appeared, there has been an important technological advancement in this area: the vastly increased production of thermoplastic polyolefin elastomers as a result of the worldwide adoption of metallocene catalysts.

The primary advantage of TPE over conventional rubber is the ease (and therefore low cost) of processing, the wide variety of properties available, and the possibility of recycling and reuse. Besides the obvious environmental benefits of a recyclable raw material, TPE scrap material can be reprocessed. The disadvantage of these materials relative to thermosets is the relatively high cost of raw materials, the general inability to load TPEs with low cost fillers such as carbon black, and poor chemical and temperature resistance. This last property prevents TPEs from being used in automobile tires.

In order to qualify as a thermoplastic elastomer,...