additives feature | Natural fi bres
Renewable materials used in Ford vehicles: Cellulose (arm rest in 2014 Lincoln MKX) Wheat straw (storage bin in 2010 Ford Flex) Rice hulls (wire harness in 2014 Ford F-150) Soy-based polyol (seat cushions in all North American Fords) Castor-based polyol (IP in 2012 Focus & 2013 Escape) Wood (door panels in European Ford Focus and Fiesta) Kenaf (door parts in Ford Mondeo and Escape) Coconut (trunk load fl oor in 2012 Ford Focus Electric)
sisal and some other natural fi bres,” explains Hardy. AgriPlas is used to produce a PP-composite storage bin in the Ford Flex that has been in production for fi ve years. Schulman has also successfully introduced AgriPlas into ABS and sees opportunities for its use in this resin. Two new projects at the company are investigating other natural fi bres. The fi rst uses tomato pumice in PP compounds; this work is in conjunction with Heinz and Ford Motor Company. The second is in conjunction with BioBent, which has a patented technology to exfoliate bio-waste soy meal into a PP compound. “Viability of the technical aspect of both of these has been completed, and the economics of commercialization are still under review,” says Hardy. He adds, “Economics directly impact commercialization of natural fi bres, as it seems that most OEMs and moulders have a desire to be green, but only when it is at a cost savings or, in some cases, cost neutral.”
The wonders of wood
Wood fi bres are already being used in automotive applications, and there has been a resurgence of projects in this area. Wood fi bre, typically harvested from sustainably managed forests, can be processed into either cellulose fi bres or medium-density fi bre- board (MDF) fi bres. A key advantage to fi bres sourced from wood is consistency of properties and worldwide supply to meet the needs of global platforms, says Christophe Chambonnet, global manager for Woodforce at Sonae Industria.
The Biofore concept car makes
extensive use of UPM Formi and UPM Grada biomaterials
Sonae’s Woodforce engineered MDF wood-fi bre diced pellets are fi nding commercial use in automotive applications, where they offer a price-performance ratio between talc functional fi llers and glass fi bres, with lower weight than either. For example, Woodforce has better heat-defl ection temperature (HDT) than talc, which is key in certain applications. In other products, Woodforce can offer properties equiva- lent to 20% glass fi bre. In addition to cost-perfor- mance and global supply, Woodforce offers the advantage of being easy to feed and disperse in the compounding process, says Chambonnet.
62 COMPOUNDING WORLD | March 2015
www.compoundingworld.com
Specialty compounder Inno-Comp has tests underway on compounds containing wood fi bre with automotive OEMs. The company reports that its compounds containing 20-40% wood fi bre in ABS have already found a niche in the toy industry, where they offer cost-effi ciency and an environmental benefi t. Several recent projects have focused on cellulose
fi bres, from which the lignin is removed to create a bleached fi bre. “Cellulose and kenaf can potentially compete with glass fi bres, when comparing properties like tensile strength and modulus, cost and availability. Because of its thermal stability compared to other natural fi bres and other wood components, cellulose can be also used with engineering thermoplastics such as nylon 6,” says Ford’s Kiziltas. The cellulose-fi bre/PP composite console armrest
on Ford’s 2013 Lincoln MKX luxury CUV won the 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Innovation Awards competition in the environmental category. The injection-mouldable composite, made with Weyerhaeuser’s Thrive compound, matched the performance of a short-glass fi bre reinforced PP composite at a reduced density. “The main technical challenge in this development
was to achieve a high level of dispersion of the cellulose fi bre with good interfacial adhesion between fi bre and resin,” explains Ellen Lee, team leader for plastic research at Ford. “Additionally, due to the higher thermal stability of purifi ed cellulose, the typical issues of odour and colour were not observed. A new challenge that arises for injection moulding of composites reinforced with cellulose and other natural fi bres is education about reducing thermal history during processing. Unlike conventional composites, natural fi bre composites must be moulded at lower temperatures and equipment must be right-sized to keep residence time in the injection mould barrel short. While these modifi cations in moulding protocol can be advantageous to cycle time and energy reduction, the shift in typical moulding processes needs to be understood by moulders.” UPM, which has several fi bre and biomass-based
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
