LIQUID SILICONE RUBBER | INNOVATION
Turning the light onto LSR innovations
The unique qualities of liquid silicone rubber are being exploited in more applications as materials and machinery firms support its expansion in injection moulding. By David Eldridge
Liquid silicone rubber is a material that seems to have crept up on injection moulders in the past few years. The technology to mould LSR has been available since the 1980s but it has been perceived to be a niche area, needing specialist equipment and processing knowledge. The elastomer’s new-found attraction has a range of reasons: wider recognition of its properties and their benefits, such as thermal stability, low compression set and good ageing profile; greater variety of materials with different Shore hardnesses and other benefits like self-lubrication; improvements in technologies for dosing and processing; and an expansion of applications in the key moulding markets of automotive and medical devices. Automotive applications for LSR are literally in the spotlight. Intricate silicone mouldings are a crucial feature in the development of intelligent car lighting, from headlamps that track the road ahead, to interior lighting that adapts to the needs of the individual. Hella, which is at the forefront of intelligent headlamp development, says transpar- ent LSR mouldings are a key enabler of innovation
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in adaptive headlights that adjust to the driving environment. “It’s only possible because of the silicone part inside the optic,” said Tilman Maucher, Project Manager at Hella. “[The LSR light guide facilitates] dynamic light distribution to have the maximum of light, but without the glaring light for the oncoming traffic and the traffic in front of you.” He presented Hella’s Matrix HD84 headlamp at
AMI’s LSR Innovations conference which took place in Dusseldorf, Germany in March. The company’s Matrix modules give glare-free road illumination in both high and low beam modes. These modules allow for variable LED configuration and therefore different lighting functions, automatically changing from town, to country to motorway functions, in which light distribution changes to suit the type of road and other road users. The dynamic bend light, for example, follows the curve of the road ahead. Maucher handed round a sample of the LSR primary optic component with light guides for 84 LEDs in the Matrix HD84 headlamp, which is fitted in Mercedes-Benz E-Class models. The part collects light from the LEDs and directs it to the secondary
April 2020 | INJECTION WORLD 15
Main image: Automotive is an important growth market for LSR,
especially in headlamp applications
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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