Sekisui Kasei: Presenting Hydrogel Solutions to Address Precise Needs

As ABLE continues our commitment to provide our customers with only the best custom converting solutions in the industry, we make it a point to partner with companies who can help us innovate. We are proud to introduce our new industry partner that will help us expand our offerings and ensure that we are at the top of our game in providing solutions.

We are proud to introduce Sekisui Kasei as our new industry partner. With their specialization in Hydrogel, we are excited to work with them to provide our customers with only the best solutions for any challenges they might face.

What is Sekisui Kasei? 

Sekisui Kasei U.S.A. Inc., a subsidiary of Sekisui Kasei Co., Ltd., specializes in manufacturing customized polymer materials and finished foam parts for various applications. Their extensive experience in foaming technologies, developed over 60 years, has established them as a global leader in our industry.

The company was founded in Japan in 1959 and has since expanded to 36 global locations, including four in North America. They take pride in providing protective polymer solutions tailored to meet customers’ specific needs. 

Sekisui Kasei: Excellent Chemical, Industrial, and Automotive Solutions

Sekisui Kasei is a leading global provider of polymer materials and foam products, specializing in polymerization, extrusion, molding, and foaming technologies. Their cutting-edge solutions are designed to empower their customers to reach new heights of success in their respective industries.

Industrial and Automotive Solutions

Sekisui Kasei is a leading supplier of molded foam and additives to the automotive industry, offering innovative solutions that help clients meet the market’s growing demands. The company’s EPS and Piocelan foam materials provide enhanced design flexibility for complex part geometries. In contrast, its molded foam parts and packaging solutions are lightweight, thereby contributing to improved fuel efficiency, better protection, and safety performance.

Chemical Solutions

Sekisui Kasei offers unique ion cross-link technology that is well-suited for cosmetic and skin care applications, allowing for adding solvents and ingredients that provide moisture to the skin. The company can customize shapes, formulations, and colors to meet clients’ specific needs. In addition, ST Gels, a subsidiary of Sekisui Kasei, uses a safe and skin-friendly process to produce odorless materials that can be used for fastening, sensing, or stimulating applications in the healthcare industry.

Introducing ST-Gel™, Sekisui Kasei’s Hydrogel

Sekisui Kasei’s proprietary gel manufacturing technology produces high-performance and highly safe materials collectively known as ST-Gel, which can hold solvents, moisturizers, electrolytes, additives, and more in a three-dimensional polymer matrix. This makes it ideal for use in various fields and applications. ST-Gel can be customized based on the required characteristics of the product.

ST-Gel Features

The physical properties of ST-Gel can be customized to suit specific needs in terms of adhesiveness and conductivity. It is also compatible with various materials, including cloth and polyurethane foam.

Safety 

ST-Gel, a highly safe and customizable gel material made using Sekisui Kasei’s proprietary gel manufacturing technology, is widely used in the manufacturing industry for numerous materials, such as repeated-use adhesive pads for TENS and EMS, electrodes for wearable devices, and Holter ECGs. Its manufacturing process reduces the amount of residual monomers that cause irritation or rash, making it noticeably more gentle on the skin than standard medical tape. ST-Gel is also observed to have less keratin adhered and impose less chance of irritating human skin, making it an ideal material for healthcare applications.

Adhesiveness

Sekisui Kasei’s ST-Gel can be customized to achieve a range of adhesiveness levels, from high levels similar to bioadhesive tape to low adhesiveness, making it suitable for a variety of manufacturing applications.

Conductivity

By adding electrolytes to the gel, ST-Gel can be made conductive to meet various needs in the manufacturing industry. Its conductivity can range from low impedance for biosensors, like electrocardiograms, to high impedance for electrical stimulation devices, such as TENS and EMS.

Moisture Respirability

ST-Gel’s unique characteristic is its ability to release moisture in dry environments and absorb moisture in humid surroundings, making it highly reliable for use in various conditions without the risk of drying or swelling.

Sekisui Kasei ST-Gel Applications: Custom Fit to Customer Needs

ST-Gel is widely used for various applications and can be customized to fit any customer need, such as the OEM of cosmetic gel masks and processed electrode products. A more comprehensive list of its applications is as follows:

Material Applications

ST-Gel is a versatile material that can be tailored to meet the unique requirements of customers, with the ability to be supplied in sheets, rolls, or other custom shapes. Sekisui Kasei aims to continually develop and improve their proprietary technology to meet the evolving needs of the manufacturing industry and exceed customer expectations.

Medical Field Applications

ST-Gel’s excellent stability when measuring makes it a popular choice as a conductive adhesive for bioelectrodes in various medical fields. In addition to offering ST-Gel as a gel material, the company has a complete production system that includes the processing stage of finished products such as electrodes, adhesive pads, and more. They have a track record as a design business, manufacturing business, and manufacturing and sales business of medical equipment.

ST-Gel’s polymer matrix containing moisturizers and electrolytes results in various characteristics, including adhesiveness, dry resistance, and conductivity. Combining ST-Gel and an electrode element results in a stable adherence to the skin, the ability to sense minute currents using conductivity, and the ability to transmit currents generated by the device through to the human body.

Healthcare Applications

Due to the growing health consciousness among people, TENS and EMS devices are gaining popularity across all age groups. Additionally, the use of wearable devices is also rapidly increasing. The excellent conductivity of ST-Gel has made it an attractive option for various applications like measuring human electrical signals and providing electrical stimulation. Its low skin irritation also makes it ideal for repetitive use.

Customers can customize the ST-Gel adhesive pads with hooks, lead wires, and flexible printed circuit boards as per their requirements. This customization allows for a more tailored product that can meet the specific needs of different industries and applications.

Cosmetic Applications

Sekisui Kasei provides OEM services for a variety of cosmetic gel masks designed for skincare, using soft gel materials. The masks can be customized according to customer requirements in terms of shape and formulation to meet the specific needs of their products. Unlike non-woven fabric masks, cosmetic gel masks can contain cosmetic ingredients in the gel, which seep out over time and provide moisturizing effects by delivering beauty ingredients to the skin.

The use of cosmetic gel masks is becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to deliver beauty ingredients and moisturize the skin. As a result, Sekisui Kasei is committed to meeting the growing demand for high-quality, customized gel masks to help customers meet the needs of their consumers. By leveraging their expertise in soft gel materials and our OEM capabilities, Sekisui Kasei aims to provide a reliable supply of cosmetic gel masks that meet each customer’s specific requirements.

ABLE is dedicated to providing clients with top-quality custom converting solutions and strives to partner with companies that can help drive innovation. With Sekisui Kasei, we will have the  ability to deliver high-quality solutions to clients facing unique challenges. Together, ABLE and Sekisui Kasei are poised to provide the best possible products and services.

Interested to learn more about our work and solutions with Sekisui Kasei? Talk to us today and we’ll be more than happy to assist you! 

References:

https:// www.sekisuikaseiusa.com/chemicals/st-gel
http:// www.stgel.com/