news BASF steels itself for composites
Germany’s BASF has, together with Bekaert of Belgium and Voestalpine Plastics Solutions of the Netherlands, developed a new process for the produc- tion of high-impact-absorbing injection moulded parts reinforced with steel cord fabrics.
The EASI – Energy Absorp-
tion, Safety and Integrity – concept will create a new class of composites that displays much improved component integrity in crash situations compared to current glass- and carbon-reinforced alternatives, the developers claim.
The partners initially began
working on the technology using a variant of the compres- sion moulding process used to
Clariant to make more pigments in China
Clariant has inaugurated a new pigment preparations plant in DaGang, Tianjin City, China. The company has invested CNY120 million (US$19 million) in the operation, which is a joint venture with Tianjin Bohai Chemical. The new 13,000 m2
facility houses 16 lines. It will produce pigment preparations in liquid and solid form for applications in the plastics, coating and printing industries. ❙
www.clariant.com
8 COMPOUNDING WORLD | April 2012
Steel cord reinforced plastics show excellent impact
behaviour, says BASF
The composites use steel
form GMT (glass-mat- reinforced thermoplastics), but they are now focusing on traditional injection moulding of engineered composite parts containing the steel cord reinforcement. According to BASF, while EASI parts may be damaged
under impact loading, they are also able to absorb energy and direct it further into the structure in a very predictable way. This is a key advantage when compared to conventional reinforcement that usually fractures upon failure (see video:
http://bit.ly/BASFsteel).
cord from Bekaert and Ultramid polyamide from BASF, while Voestalpine provides the processing technology. By using poly- amide as the matrix material it is not only possible to access attached or semi-structural automotive parts but also to gain entry to body-in-white (BIW) applications that need to run through the e-coating process, says BASF. Part of the project is to further develop the BASF Ultrasim simulation tool to accurately model the impact behaviour of the EASI compos- ites. Applications are foreseen in parts such as bumper beams and front-end modules. ❙
www.ultramid.de
RAL adds 200 extra colours
RAL, the German colour matching organisation, has added 200 new colour shades to the RAL Plastics pro- gramme that it launched at K 2010. It says that the additional 160 opaque and 40 transparent polypropylene chips open up new design opportunities for the plastics sector. Masterbatch maker Gabriel
RAL has expanded its plastics colour range with a set of 200 new shades
Chemie supported the development and production of both the original RAL Plastics programme and this new set of colours.
As with the 100 “classic shades” launched in the original RAL P1 set, the 200 new colours in RAL P2 are supplied as PP samples measuring 105 x 148 mm. Three surface finishes and
stepped thicknesses of 1, 2 and 3 mm provide the user
with a realistic impression of the colour effect in various applications. The samples are available
as a complete set of 200 or individually. They each have a protective sleeve that details the masterbatch code and colormetric values. ❙
www.ral-colours.com
www.compoundingworld.com
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