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Improved impact resistant copolymers for car bumpers
Researchers at Orlen Unipetrol RPA Polymer Institute Brno have developed a new impact resistant copolymer (ICP) that meets demanding requirements for car bumpers
The automotive industry is undergoing intensive transformation in terms of safety, cost, carbon emissions and air pollution. Meanwhile, manufacturers face new legal challenges, changing public opinion, growing competition and business consolidation. This transformation also extends to material selection, where alternatives to current options are demanded that provide better performance and allow part weight to be reduced.
One of the most demanding car parts is the bumper. A project to develop an improved ICP material for injection moulding such parts has recently been completed at the research center Polymer Institute Brno of Orlen Unipetrol RPA. Commercialisation of this new ICP grade is now underway. The aim of the project was to create a
material with a perfectly balanced ratio between material stiffness (flexural modulus) and impact resistance (Charpy impact strength notched) while maintaining good thermal (CLTE) and dimensional (shrinkage) stability in the resulting material. Generally, heterophasic impact copolymers comprise an ethylene/ propylene rubber dispersed in a PP matrix. The researchers took two routes to achieve the required performance. The first involved optimising the ethylene/ propylene rubber phase parameters in terms of content, composition and molecular weight. This has allowed excellent impact resistance and strain at break to be achieved. The second was to improve the
structure of the heterophasic polypropylene copolymer. This structural optimisation was achieved using selected compatibilisers and additives, such as thermoplastic olefins (TPO) and high quality inorganic fillers. Efforts were focused on finding synergies between the ICP material, the TPO and the filler, with
Star chart comparing measured parameters of a standard ICP grade against Unipetrol’s new Bumper-T2 ICP grade (changes expressed in %)
The table below shows the actual measured parameters of the standard and new ICP grades
the result being a material with improved stiffness that retains high impact resistance. The research was performed using a
4-litre polymerisation reactor, which is designed for accurate synthesis of target materials in yields suitable for evaluation of mechanical properties. The end result was a precisely balanced composition that provided enhanced mechanical properties, shrinkage and CLTE. The newly-developed ICP materials
are primarily intended for use in the automotive industry for injection moulding of exterior parts such as car bumpers. Orlen Unipetrol’s researchers are convinced that the new material will enable production of lighter car bumpers that meet all the new technical, safety and environmental requirements faced by the automotive industry.
www.unipetrol.cz/en
The 4-litre bench polymerisation reactor is designed for materials development and evaluation
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