Kuraray Wins SPE Automotive Award 2025

Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Hitoshi Kawahara) hereby announces that the coolant control valve (CCV) developed utilizing its heat-resistant polyamide resin GENESTAR™ has received the New Mobility Category Award at the SPE Automotive Award 2025, presented by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). This CCV was jointly developed with Yinlun Co., Ltd., a major manufacturer of heat-exchange equipment in China.

The SPE Automotive Awards recognize innovative plastic technologies in the automotive industry. The CCV, which was awarded third place in the New Mobility category, was recognized for its lightweight and compact design employing plastic instead of metal that contributes to improved fuel efficiency in new energy vehicles.
　Thanks to the combination of two grades of glass fiber-reinforced GENESTAR™ with high laser transmittance characteristics and hydrolysis resistance, the valve also boasts the rigidity and fatigue resistance needed to withstand the dynamic loads critical in automotive applications.
　Furthermore, as GENESTAR™ enable to attain multiple material processing steps such as bump-off molding* and laser welding, the efficiency of CCV production can be improved.
*A molding technique that allows efficient removal of parts from the mold, even when the product has undercuts (shapes that interfere with the mold’s opening direction), by temporarily deforming the part.

Automotive thermal management systems incorporate multiple electric valves that optimally distribute coolant to components requiring temperature control, such as drive motors, batteries, and inverters, thereby enhancing the vehicle’s overall energy efficiency. As thermal management systems in new energy vehicles are becoming increasingly complex, technological innovation is essential for performance improvement.
　The new CCV, which integrates Kuraray’s material design technology of GENESTAR™ with Yinlun’s product design technology, achieves weight reduction through the incorporation of electric valves and enhances cooling control precision. This is expected to yield an improvement in environmental and other performance, including significant reductions in CO₂ emissions for internal combustion engine vehicles and extended driving ranges for new energy vehicles.

About GENESTAR™

• GENESTAR™, a heat-resistant polyamide resin developed in-house from raw material monomers, is the first of its kind in the world and is a proprietary material that we commercialized in 1999. It has such features as heat resistance, chemical resistance, low water absorbency, electrical insulation properties, and wear resistance. It has the particular advantage of being less prone to blistering problems with SMT connectors and is being increasingly used in electrical and electronic products.
• In addition to electrical and electronic applications such as connectors for smartphones and computers, and LED reflective material applications, it is also increasingly being used in housings and gears for cooling system parts in the automobile industry, where the need for weight reduction is growing. Furthermore, it has been increasingly utilized in automotive electrical parts in recent years.
• To handle expanding global demand and establish a stable supply system, the new plant in Thailand, which began operations in 2023, is conducting integrated manufacturing from monomers to polymers. With the new plant in Thailand commencing operations, our global polymer supply capacity has approximately doubled.

About Yinlun Co., Ltd.

Zhejiang Yinlun Machinery Co., Ltd. is a leading Chinese enterprise engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, and sales of thermal management and exhaust gas post-treatment products. The company manufactures and sells these products to a wide range of sectors, from producers of consumer and commercial vehicles to industrial and consumer product manufacturers.