technology | Materials
slightly because spiral fl ow tests showed the fl ow of the new material is as good as the old material but at a lower MFI. So the fl ow in the mould is like-for-like. And the impact strength is unchanged,” says Burton. Moulding trials carried out at Tier One supplier R-Tek showed the new compound not only matches the current grade on paper, but also in processing terms. “We have made a like-for-like product,” says Burton. “We took the material to R-Tek, who mould the door panels for Nissan in our current 16407 grade, and we put our new material onto the mould and it ran fi rst time without any change. The visual aspect did not change although we had gone from 25% talc to a much lower fi ller loading.”
10N Erichsen scratch test results: Hycolene 16624 versus 16407 production grade
Source: Luxus
passenger vehicle cost is a lot more in focus so the technology we apply for something like Qashqai or the Leaf electric vehicle is a completely different calculation and economic balance,” he says. The Qashqai door panels are currently produced in a
25% talc fi lled PP compound (16407) supplied by Luxus. The company’s technical manager Terry Burton says this meant it had tightly defi ned performance require- ments against which to measure its Hycolene alterna- tive. Using the Milliken Hyperform HPR-803i additive to displace some of the talc fi ller allowed it to achieve a 12% weight reduction per door trim (equivalent to an actual weight saving of 77g per part) and increase the recycled resin content from 40 to 49% for the Hycolene product (16624). The Hycolene 16624 grade matched or exceeded the
key mechanical and impact performance of the current 16407 compound. “We initially set out to match but what we’ve managed to do is increase the fl exural modulus and the HDT. We have also changed the melt fl ow index
What is Hyperform?
Milliken’s Hyperform HPR-803i is a synthetic mineral-based reinforce- ment fi bre with an approximate diameter of 0.5 microns and length of 20 microns. It has a density of 2.3 g/cm3 talc and 2.6 g/cm3
, compared with 2.7 g/cm3 for for glass fi bre. According to data from Milliken, the
additive can match the fl exural modulus of a 30% talc fi lled PP at a loading of just 12%. HDT performance of typical talc-fi lled PP grades can also be matched at lower loading levels using the Hyperform additive. Typical benefi ts of replacing talc with the new additive include reduced density, improved balance of stiffness and impact perfor- mance, and an improvement in scratch resistance of the fi nal part.
16 INJECTION WORLD | April 2013
www.injectionworld.com
Replacement of a large proportion of the talc fi ller with the Milliken additive also paid a benefi t in terms of scratch resistance. “It turned out that scratch resist- ance was much, much better. Because we had taken 15% of talc out of the compound you lose that whitening effect,” says Burton.
Luxus specialises in producing compounds with
recycled polymers and has an established supply chain for both post-consumer and post-industrial recycled PP polymer. However, Burton says he believes the company is unique in Europe in being able to offer recycled compounds for Class A fi nish automotive interior components, which he attributes to its supply chain and in-house sorting and materials selection. “The material we are looking for is the very best of
what is available. We have companies that we have designated through our internal processes as approved PP automotive interior grade suppliers but even for those as soon as the material comes into our plant we start sorting. We look at colour, we check for odour, we FTIR test for contamination,” he says. Unlike traditional virgin compounders, Luxus has to
take into account the volume of recycled materials available. “The volumes are there and we have been
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