Elkem is pleased to announce that BLUESIL? TCS 7538 LE was named as a winner of the 2024 SEAL Sustainable Product Award. The Sustainability, Environmental Achievement Leadership (SEAL) Awards honor companies and leaders across the globe that make measurable contributions to sustainability and develop innovative initiatives that will positively impact the environment.

SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement & Leadership) Awards is an environmental advocacy organization that honors leadership through our business sustainability awards & environmental journalism awards while funding research and pursuing our own environmental impact campaigns.

For nearly 20 years, Elkem’s silicone coatings have been used to improve the reliability of airbags. They provide excellent high-temperature barrier to protect car occupants from hot gases and allow controlled air retention in the airbag. The durable properties of the silicone ensure good deployment and efficiency of the airbag throughout the life of the vehicle.

BLUESIL? TCS 7538 LE is a novel low-VOC (Volatile Organic Content) silicone formulation designed to improve the overall environmental, health and safety profile of textile coating operations, including airbag manufacturing. Specifically, it creates durable adhesion immediately after coating as well as after aging on both washed and unwashed textiles like PET, delivering productivity, performance and environmental benefits for the coaters.

The innovation offers enhanced productivity, durability and long-term performance while simultaneously reducing environmental impact, with a greater than 60% VOC reduction and double the adhesion durability versus the incumbent material (~1000 vs. 500 cycles for typical durability levels).?

“We are honored to receive the SEAL Sustainable Product Award for our brandnew coating product, which helps to improve the long-term performance of vehicle airbags while significantly reducing VOC emissions.” said David Mariot, PhD, Elkem Research & Technology Global Leader for Specialty Elastomers.

The patented innovation by Elkem Silicones aligns with the 'safe and sustainable by design' (SSbD) European Commission Recommendation and can help meet German TA Luft regulation levels. It further demonstrates the progress being made through Elkem’s climate roadmap strategy which, in addition to reducing Elkem’s own emissions, includes developing specialized products and services that can be key enablers in the green transition, such as electrification of transportation, reduced energy consumption, increased production and availability of renewable energy, and replacement of oil-based materials.