automotive | Exterior
PSA Peugeot Citroën worked with Rehau and a team of polymer specialists to develop its striking – and functional – Airbump technology. Chris Smith fi nds out more
Citroën aims to take the knocks
Main image: Citroën’s new Airbump is likened to bubble-wrap for cars – an impact resistant polymer skin designed to protect from bumps and scrapes
Below: Airbump is also used as a multifunc- tional design feature on the Cactus C4
PSA Peugeot Citroen’s new C4 Cactus crossover car packs quite a number of novel design and engineering features but the most immediately striking must be its huge Airbump side panels – large areas of injection moulded thermoplastic cladding designed to ensure this new small family urban vehicle is able to shrug off the bumps and scrapes of modern city living. The Airbump system has been developed by
Citroën’s engineers together with technical specialists at plastics automotive component group Rehau. Designed to cover much of the side surface of the vehicle, each Airbump panel is comprised of a series of air-fi lled cushioning ‘capsules’ designed to deform by up to 20mm as they absorb unwanted impacts from carelessly-opened car doors as well as the minor collisions with shopping trolleys in car parks that result in unsightly dents in conventional steel door skins. Citroën claims the Airbump technology will allow the factory fi nish of the vehicle to be maintained
for longer and could reduce ongoing servicing and repair costs for C4 Cactus owners. The company says this improvement relates both to impact and scratch resistance – it claims the Airbump panels are much more resistant to scratches than painted steel. The fl exible Airbump cushions are injection moulded
in a newly-developed Elastollan thermoplastic polyure- thane (TPU) grade developed by BASF. This UV-stabi- lised grade is said to have made it possible to specify a TPU for use in a large exterior automotive application for the fi rst time – the materials have, until now, been used in the engine compartment or in interior applica- tions such as door handles and control knobs. According to BASF, the new Elastollan AC55D10 HPM grade combines the good tensile strength, abrasion resistance, elasticity and low temperature impact performance characteristics expected of a conventional TPU together with outstanding surface fi nish, easy cleaning, and resistance to scratching and UV exposure. BASF also says that processing has been improved with the AC55D10 HPM product. The company claims the new grade can be injection moulded on cycle times 50% shorter than typical for a conventional TPU material. The processing window is also said to be broader, while signifi cantly improved fl ow performance means the 1.5-1.8mm wall
thicknesses required for the Airbump capsules can be easily produced without sacrifi cing the fi nal quality of the surface.
“Because of the high demands on surface 36 INJECTION WORLD
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