AUTOMOTIVE | INTERIORS AND EXTERIORS


Right: Volkswagen’s new ID.3 has distinctive front lighting. Röhm’s Plexiglas AG 100 PMMA is used for the cover of the LED light strip


and Golf 8. The material is used for the cover of the LED light strip. “This is a new field of application for PMMA which is dominated by coated polycarbon- ate,” says Sven Schroebel, Head of Product Man- agement Automotive, BU Molding Compounds, at Röhm. “Our Plexiglas AG 100 is used uncoated and therefore contributes to sustainable product design, CO2


and VOC savings.” On some versions


of the Golf 8, a contrast to the light line provided by a black, high-gloss trim made of Plexiglas Hi-Gloss NTA-5, which runs parallel to the LED strip. The black background of the emblems at the front and back is also made from a moulding compound from the Plexiglas Hi-Gloss series. Röhm has also just launched a new PMMA


product that combines increased long service temperature resistance (up to 105°C) with high- level optical properties: Plexiglas Optical HT. Main target application is LED light guides and second- ary LED optics for automotive headlights. Plexiglas Optical HT provides optical efficiency


at the high standard of Plexiglas 8N, in combina- tion with an increased heat deflection temperature similar to the Plexiglas Heatresist product family. “Too often, increased heat deflection temperature is synonymous with loss of optical quality, even if such a loss is minimal. Not with Plexiglas Optical HT,” says Rüdiger Carloff, Project Manager at Innovation Management Methacrylates at Röhm, who has managed the product development. Flow properties are also comparable to those of known basic moulding compounds and allow the produc- tion of complex optical components.


Solutions for suspensions “The advancing architectural change of the automobile is leading to a necessity for substantial changes, also with respect to previously used materials,” says Eric Folz, Senior Market Develop- ment Manager in the Customized Polymer Materi- als BU at compounder LehVoss. He singles out the suspension systems. “Even with the stepwise change from the combustion engine to electrically powered vehicles, the wheel suspensions with spring/ damper units are retained. If one especially considers the front spring strut in a passenger car and in particular the spring strut bearing, the technical/economic aspects reveal new approach- es for LehVoss Group.” Various requirements emerge, says Folz: cost


reduction by replacement of roller bearings; cost reduction by using alternative materials for top cap and spring carrier; simplification of system and design through the use of functional integration


28 INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2020


and slide bearings; reduction of system height; mass reduction; noise reduction (squeaking); better emergency operating properties (lack of grease, pollution and total bearing collapse). Current strut bearing systems usually use glass


reinforced PA66 types as base materials for the top cap and spring carrier. “Tried and tested, cost-opti- mised material systems are available for this segment in the form of our quality-monitored, regranulate-based Luvotech Eco PA66 materials,” says Folz. “Luvotech Eco PA6-GF provides a response to the frequently recurring PA66 short- ages and the accompanying price pressure on the world market. The development of a new system including Luvotech Eco PA6-GF combined with a sliding disc made of a tribologically optimised Luvocom material represents one optimum solution.”


CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: � www.lyondellbasell.com � www.rehau.com � www.eschmanntextures.de � www.rtpcompany.com � https://inno-comp.hu � www.sumikaeurope.com � www.sabic.com � www.borealis.com � www.akplastics.com � www.basf.com � www.teknorapex.com � www.trinseo.com � www.radicigroup.com � https://polyscope.eu � www.covestro.com � www.roehm.com � www.lehvoss.de


www.injectionworld.com


IMAGE: VOLKSWAGEN


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