TECHNOLOGY | LFTs
The introduction of electric vehicles is presenting opportunities for long fibre reinforced thermoplastics while new lightweight applications continue to emerge. Mark Holmes reports
Long fibre thermoplastics stretch their potential
Long fibre thermoplastics (LFT) technology contin- ues to develop. While automotive applications maintain their market dominance, other industry segments are increasingly attracted by the promise of low weight and high strength — LFT PP com- pounds can, for example, provide lower cost alterna- tives to metals but also to more costly technical engineering polymers. According to a report published in September
2021 by AMI Consulting — a division of Com- pounding World publisher AMI — market penetra- tion of PP continues to rise. The report quantifies the use of both granular form LFT PP (LFT-G) and direct in-line compounded LFT PP (LFT-D) and tracks use around the world. It says LFT PP is used widely in automotive front-end carriers, instrument- panel carriers, door-panels, consoles, pedals, underbody shields and many other automotive applications. A feature of many of these applica- tions is that LFT PP is replacing steel — thereby
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reducing weight — or substituting for more expen- sive engineering plastics. AMI Consulting forecasts strong growth for LFT
PP through to 2025, although it says the pace of growth varies across different application sectors, automotive OEMs, and geographical markets. In the past, Europe was the volume leader in LFTs but that has changed. The report says that in 2020 Asia accounted for 50% of global demand for LFT PP, compared with 26% in Europe and 24% in the Americas (Figure 1). One of the fastest growing application areas is
liftgates, where designs range from all-metal to virtually no metal. In metal-free designs LFT PP is used to provide structural strength and is comple- mented with high performance PP to provide a paintable exterior skin. In the most demanding applications, the structural interior LFT PP elements are exposed so a good aesthetic finish is required. Plastic liftgates are particularly valuable to electric
March 2022 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 27
Main image: Potential to provide integrated one-piece
weight-saving alternatives to conventional metal or even ETP designs is driving new interest in LFTs
IMAGE: POLYPLASTICS
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