009TRANSFORMINGS
A product with its appeal highlighted by the new freely transformable material ABSORTOMER™

Photography: Kenta Hasegawa

CONCEPT

What if cups and objects change their forms according to the temperature?
ABSORTOMER™ helps transform simple livingware.
It is soft in hot water, while it is solid in icy water.
Hold it gently in your hand and then grip it powerfully.
Changing its form, it gives you visual and tactile delights.
Feel the charm of unprecedented changes in resin on your hand.

Material

ABSORTOMER™ (alpha-olefin copolymer)

Mitsui Chemicals has developed this new olefin material with its molecular structure optimized at the nanometer level with the use of its long-cultivated catalyst technology. It is unique in that its feel varies with the temperature. At a low temperature, it is hard and maintains its form. After it is heated, it changes to a soft feel. The addition of this material to different materials at the time of forming adds features such as stress relaxation (weakened tightening) and following property (close adhesion to uneven surfaces), and helps to develop unique products.

<Horizons of Material>

  • ●A new material created with the catalyst technology owned by Mitsui Chemicals, which has created many different materials for the first time in the world and in Japan.
  • ●An unprecedented, unique and distinctive feel achieved by the change in the feel according to the temperature.
  • ●The sensibility value of the change in feel according to the temperature will expand the horizons towards creating new products.

Reference

ABSORTOMER™ has been adopted by LEC, Inc. for its face masks with ear guards

ABSORTOMER™, a new material developed by Mitsui Chemicals, has been adopted by household goods manufacturer LEC, Inc. for its face masks with ear guards. The material's unique stress relaxation feature frees users who feel pain in their ears while wearing a facemask from concerns about wearing a mask. It provides a soft, comfortable wearing experience and is a brand-new product that suits users because it adapts to their faces over time.

Creative Partner

Yusuke Hayashi (left) and Yoko Anzai (right), DRILL DESIGN

DRILL DESIGN is a design studio established in 2001 by Yusuke Hayashi and Yoko Anzai. It engages in design and direction centered on product design, and also in many other areas such as graphics, packages and space design. It also works to commercialize Japan's advanced technologies and materials through design and spread them throughout the world. It has already won a large number of awards, including the Red Dot Design Award, the German Design Award, the Good Design Special Award, the Design For Asia Award and the Wallpaper* Design Award.