Foaming agents | additives feature
Automotive applications A focus of many foam suppliers is helping the automotive industry achieve CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) goals for 2025. “Having a lighter car is a big part [of meeting CAFE goals],” notes Schroeck at Reedy. “Much of the plastic that has been PC/ABS is likely to move to PP/TPO due to its easier handling and process- ing. There are so many ways that TPO can be engineered, that having several options for foam and foam nucleation will allow cars that are lighter and stronger at the same time.” Mecaplast, a worldwide supplier of injected
parts for automotive, worked with toolmaker Cero, raw-material supplier Sumika Polymer Compounds, the Center for Material Forming (Cemef) of Mines ParisTech, and the Polymer Materials Engineering group at the University of St Etienne (UMR CNRS IMP) on a project sponsored by the French government to use chemical foaming technology to reduce the weight of automotive parts. CFAs, rather than a physical blowing process, were
chosen because Mecaplast uses several different injection moulding machines for different parts, and an additive method is easier than equipment investment, explained Aurore Claverie, research engineer at Mecaplast, in a presentation at AMI’s Polymer Foam 2014 conference. In the automotive industry, customers are interested in having the same parts produced no matter the location, whether Europe or China or Mexico, she added. Endothermic CFAs were chosen because of their process safety (absorbing rather than releas- ing energy). The project used a 12% mineral-filled PP compound produced by Sumika Polymer Compounds. Surface finish is important for interior automotive
applications, and the researchers determined the process needed to produce the desired appearance. The critical point is a function of the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in the melt, which depends on the tem- perature and the amount of CFA and the viscosity of the raw material, said Claverie. Another concern for the
Bergen doubled its CFA masterbatch capacity last year and is targeting a range of applications including profiles
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