Winners of 2004
The Plastics Oscar Award for the Automotive Sector

SPE Central Europe is an international organisation which has made it its business to promote communication between scientists and engineers involved in the development, manufacture and processing of plastics. The Automotive Division awards a prize each year and this year the ceremony took place on 18th October in Neuss/Germany. Prizes are awarded in the following categories: Body Interior, Body Exterior, Power Train (applications under the bonnet / chassis) und Management (public relations and advertising). ....read more!

Design trend: invisible airbags
Frimo process technology for seamless airbags

In modern cars the interior is meant to have a high quality, harmoniously coordinated appearance forming an integrated whole. This, together with the aspects of safety and ergonomics, is playing an increasing role as far as the quality image of the vehicle is concerned. One aspect of this is the trend towards invisible airbags. In older models, visible passenger airbag cover were considered a desirable proof of quality, whereas nowadays such features are designed to be out of sight. This trend, which has already become established in higher quality vehicles, has now also started to increasingly enter the medium range vehicle categories. ....read more!

Hybrid technology targets crossmembers
Instrument Panels on Audi A8 under the microscope

Hybrid technology has already made its mark in the manufacture of front end support brackets and other applications, and a new feasibility study suggests there is potential for this technology in the construction of crossmembers for instrument panels. The study, based on the new Audi A8, is being jointly carried out by Audi AG, Acts GmbH & Co KG, a company based in Sailauf near Aschaffenburg/Germany and the Semi-Crystalline Products Business Unit of Lanxess, the company which has emerged from Bayer Chemicals AG and one third of the Bayer Polymer business. The study concluded with the production of prototype crossmember parts. ....read more!

Pitting fuels and oils against each other
‘O’ rings made from fluorine liquid silicone rubbers resistant to aggressive media

Materials are working very hard every day under the bonnet: temperatures of up to 180 °C in association with aggressive media present a major challenge even right down to the seals, whose level of resistance is of great importance to a car’s performance and safety. Using an innovative type of fluoric liquid silicone rubber which has recently come on to the market, Wacker Silicones has developed a material specifically for the high-stress areas under the bonnet. ....read more!

Injection Moulded Air Intake Manifold
Three Company Partnership targets Automotive Performance Aftermarket

The LSX air intake manifold is the first known composite manifold to be produced for the automotive performance aftermarket. F.A.S.T. (Fuel-Air-Spark Technologies) had two key partners in this innovative project, along with renowned airflow expert Keith Wilson of Wilson Manifolds. ....read more!

Hot diesel engine? No problem!
New Components and testing methods

Mann+Hummel, Ludwigsburg/Germany is producing a range of innovative components for the new Audi A6 like a diesel fuel filter and an intake module. Furthermore the company has improved the accuracy with which the bursting strength of air intake manifolds can be predicted. Let’s have a look! ....read more!

A New Concept of Thermoplastic Composites
Curv - Self-reinforced Thermoplastics

Self-reinforced thermoplastics developed at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Polymer Science and Technology at the University of Leeds/UK, made suitable for mass production and marketed by BP under the brand name Curv, is a new family of materials. They combine the versatility and recyclability of a 100% thermoplastic with the high performance of a fibre reinforced composite. It can be used for many automotive applications to replace glass- or natural fibre-reinforced composites. ....read more!

Metal-coated plastics
Electroplatable ABS

Recently BASF’s application technologists demonstrated that Terluran GP-35, a standard ABS grade marketed throughout the world, is also suitable for fast electroplating. It thus enables the customer to galvanise quickly and rely on a product that is universally available at constant quality. Terluran is the trade name for BASF’s range of ABS (acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene) copolymers. ....read more!

Hot Runners - a Question of Dynamics
Technology Days at Synventive

In June the German subsidiary of the hot runners manufacturer Synventive in Bensheim held its Bensheim Technology Days to which German-speaking customers were invited (see announcement on page 6). The company provided information on its innovations, such as Dynamic Feed. Lectures and plant visits rounded the programme off. Visitors greatly enjoyed examining and having an opportunity to handle the hot runners systems in their uninstalled state. ....read more!

Read more about several products for the automotive industry
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