- Substitute for chemical adhesives, using biomaterials first commercialized in Korea

- Targeting the motor core market for EV in advance to expand into the overall automotive adhesive market

- Development of isosorbide-based products group-wide to lead global markets

 

▲ Isosorbide-based biodegradable adhesives for EV developed by Samyang Innochem

 

 

Samyang Innochem has successfully developed eco-friendly adhesives for EVs using isosorbide, a biomaterial first commercialized by Samyang Group in Korea, to target future mobility markets including EV, e-trams, and urban air mobility (UAM).

 

Samyang Innochem (CEO: Kang Ho-sung), Samyang Group’s affiliate in chemical business, announced on August 17 that it has developed and started mass production of Novasorb, an eco-friendly adhesive for manufacturing electric motors using isosorbide.

 

Isosorbide is a biomaterial produced through chemical processing of starch extracted from plants such as corn and used to produce plastics and paints as a substitute for conventional chemical materials. Samyang Group successfully commercialized isosorbide as the second in the world and is operating out of Samyang Innochem’s Gunsan plant, a production facility that can produce 10,000 annual tons of isosorbide.

 

Samyang Innochem plans to replace the conventional chemical adhesives with recently developed eco-friendly adhesives, highlighting its environmental advantage. The company already completed testing its application in motor cores of EV and is preparing for its supply for domestic and foreign EV makers. Motor cores are essential for electric motors and are made by laminating thin electrical steels less than 1 mm in thickness. Steel was previously welded using laser, but bonding motor cores with adhesives have become common recently. This is due to the strong adhesion between steel and the ability to prevent deformation that may arise during welding steel.

 

An official of Samyang Innochem said, “Motor cores using adhesives have higher energy efficiency while creating less vibration and noise, compared to the conventional welded motor cores. And as environmental products and the way of production are  increasingly important in line with growing attention to ESG, eco-friendly adhesives is likely to make EVs greener.”

 

Starting with motor cores for EVs, Samyang Innochem plans to target e-trams, UAM and other industrial electric motor markets in advance to expand its application into the overall automotive part markets.  UAMis highly recognized as a next-generation mobility solution that maximizes the mobility efficiency in urban areas as it enables vertical takeoff and landing.

 

Samyang Group is focusing on a group-wide development of biodegradable materials using isosorbide. In April, 2020, Samyang Group was selected as the project leader for a biomass-derived biodegradable polycarbonates (PCs) and automotive parts development project supervised by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, so it has worked on the development of biodegradable PCs and wide application for automotive parts.

 

Since last year, Samyang Innochem has developed biodegradable polyurethane using isosorbide. Polyurethane is used for floor matting, shock absorption and insulation. Last July, Samyang Innochem signed an MOU for R&D cooperation on biomaterials with Kukdo Chemical, one of the global leading epoxy companies, to jointly develop and commercialize isosorbide-based biodegradable epoxy, coating materials, adhesives, and paints.

 

CEO Kang Ho-sung of Samyang Innochem said, “Biomaterial isosorbides is more carbon neutral than fossil fuel-based materials and also improves the material property than chemical materials, so we aim to lead global biomaterials markets by expanding our portfolio of isosorbide-based products.