Kraton is the trade name under which Kraton Performance Polymers Inc. develops and sells its product – a soft and flexible synthetic polymer. Kraton is a leading world manufacturer of synthetic polymers used to enhance the performance of products that affect virtually all areas of our lives. Kraton is a synthetic substitute for rubber.
Cold Steel refers to this material in its knives as Kray-Ex.
Kraton is produced in several variants for diverse applications. The Kraton G variant is a polymer offering many properties of natural rubber, such as flexibility, high adhesion, resistance to heat, adverse weather conditions, and chemical substances.
It is therefore very similar to rubber and can be cast into the shape of a knife handle or its part. This is also its most frequent use. It absorbs shocks very well, the knife does not slip in the hand nor rotate, providing a very secure grip. Handles on bicycle handlebars and other grips, as well as elastic components of baby diapers, oil gels for telecommunications, and medical applications, among others, are made from Kraton G polymer.