“Regulatory compliance is becoming a critical design constraint”

In high-voltage and electric vehicle architectures, sealing systems face a unique combination of challenges: extreme temperatures, chemical exposure, and increasing sustainability requirements. As Manager Product Engineering at Starlim, Leopold Pühringer — speaker at the Automotive Wire Harness & EDS Conference Detroit 2025 — leads the development of advanced elastomeric and thermoplastic compounds, application-specific sealing solutions, and long-term testing protocols. His work not only ensures compliance with global environmental standards such as REACH, RoHS, and ELV, but also directly addresses critical factors like insulation creep in HV connectors – an issue that can make or break sealing performance over a vehicle’s lifetime.

ADT: We are in the midst of a dynamic and disruptive decade for the automotive industry. From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges the wire harness sector will face over the next five years?

Automotive Wire Harness North America

20-21 October 2025 | The Henry Hotel, Dearborn, Michigan

Pühringer: As vehicle electrification accelerates, sealing systems are facing increasingly demanding performance requirements. High-voltage components, battery enclosures, and power electronics generate elevated thermal loads and introduce exposure to aggressive fluids such as dielectric coolants and specialized lubricants. Seals must now deliver enhanced thermal stability, chemical resistance, and electrical insulation properties – often simultaneously. In parallel, regulatory compliance is becoming a critical design constraint. Materials and processes must adhere to stringent environmental standards, including REACH, RoHS, and ELV, which limit the use of hazardous substances and promote recyclability. This is driving the adoption of advanced elastomeric compounds, low-emission formulations, and single-material designs that support end-of-life disassembly and circular economy goals.

Starlim is known for its deep expertise in silicone-based components and precision sealing systems. How is your R&D team approaching material innovation to meet the evolving demands of electric and high-voltage vehicle architectures?

To meet the increasing material demands driven by vehicle electrification, regulatory compliance, and functional complexity, we have adopted a structured, performance-oriented strategy with a strong emphasis on material processability. The development and qualification of advanced elastomeric and thermoplastic compounds are central to this approach, targeting elevated thermal stability, chemical resistance – particularly to dielectric fluids and coolants – and reliable sealing performance. Equally critical is ensuring that these materials exhibit excellent molding behavior, dimensional stability, and compatibility with high-volume, automated production processes. Material selection is governed by strict adherence to global environmental regulations, ensuring minimal content of restricted substances and enabling recyclability. A compliance-first screening process is fully integrated into our material development workflows, supported by robust traceability systems and regulatory databases to ensure conformity across international markets.

How do you translate these global compliance requirements into specific material choices for different automotive applications?

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Application-specific material matching is essential: sealing solutions for battery enclosures, power electronics, and sensor modules are tailored to meet distinct thermal, mechanical, and environmental stress profiles. Simulation tools such as finite element analysis (FEA), mold flow analysis, and accelerated aging protocols are employed to validate long-term performance and manufacturability. Sustainability is embedded into our material strategy through the use of bio-based polymers, low-emission curing systems, and mono-material designs that facilitate end-of-life disassembly and recycling. Finally, proactive collaboration with OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers is a cornerstone of our approach. As a sealing solution provider, Starlim engages early in the design phase, offering digital models, compliance documentation, and co-engineering support to ensure alignment with evolving vehicle architectures, manufacturing requirements, and regulatory landscapes.

Your presentation in Detroit focuses on the overlooked impact of wire insulation creep on HV connector sealing. How does your new test method improve the predictive accuracy of sealing performance – and what implications does this have for the future of connector design standards?

One of the primary concerns in these applications is the creep behavior of wire insulation under sustained compressive loads. Thermoplastic insulation materials such as PVC, XLPE, and TPE are prone to time-dependent deformation when subjected to continuous pressure from sealing elements. This can result in a gradual reduction of sealing force, leading to micro-gaps, compromised ingress protection, and potential sealing performance failure. To address this, seal design must be optimized not only for initial fit and compression but also for long-term mechanical stability. This includes selecting elastomeric materials with low compression set, designing contact geometries that minimize localized stress concentrations, and ensuring chemical compatibility with insulation materials to prevent accelerated degradation.

How do you put these design and material choices to the test?

At Starlim, we conduct application-specific long-term storage testing to validate seal performance under realistic conditions. These tests simulate extended static loading at elevated temperatures (85 °C to 125 °C) over durations exceeding 1.000 hours. The focus is on predicting insulation creep behavior under varying compressive loads and correlating deformation with time and temperature. This allows us to assess the retention of sealing force, dimensional stability, and the risk of insulation relaxation over the product lifecycle. Advanced simulation tools, including creep modeling of insulation materials and FEA-based seal deformation analysis, are integrated into the design process to predict performance before physical validation. These insights guide the development of sealing geometries and material combinations that maintain functional integrity despite long-term mechanical and thermal stresses. By aligning seal design with insulation creep characteristics and validating performance through targeted long-term testing, we ensure robust sealing solutions that meet the stringent reliability requirements of modern wire harness systems.

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