A World of Innovation
34th SPE Automotive Awards a Tribute to the Industry

The Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) announced the winners of its 2004 Innovation Awards at a dinner held November 10 at Burton Manor in Livonia, MI/USA. Polymotive has reported on the equivalent European awards in issue 11+12/04 and we found it time to include a report on developments in the single-largest automotive market. .....read more!

Combining the Uncombinable
BASF develops glass GF-PBT with low viscosity and good mechanical properties

If a material manufacturer reduces the melt viscosity of a polymer, there will almost invariably be a fall-off in the quality of the mechanical characteristics. This axiom of the plastics industry has now been well and truly laid to rest by BASF – at least as far as glass fibre reinforced PBT is concerned. We wanted to find out more. In particular we wanted to know who the brains were behind the idea, how it was devised and what it took to promote and launch the product onto the market. So we paid a visit to Ludwigshafen where we met Dr. Carsten Weiß, Project Manager, and one of the inventors and architects of the idea, together with Roberto Gualdoni, Group Vice President Engineering Plastics Europe, who was responsible for creating the right environment for focusing on the ideas and to nurture them to reality. ....read more!

On the threshold of serial production
Ticona introduces thermoplastic fuel cell

Ticona, the technical polymers business of the Celanese Group, presented at the K show the first fuel cell prototype made solely of engineering thermoplastics, an advance that is said to lower fuel cell cost at least 50 percent when compared with those fabricated using other materials. The 17-cell unit contains injection moulded bipolar plates of Vectra liquid crystal polymer (LCP) and end plates of Fortron polyphenylene sulphide (PPS). ....read more!

A firm grip
Folding seat handles in the cargo area of the Toyota Corolla Verso made from PC/AES blend

Toyota sets great store by flexibility in its Corolla Verso model. In particular, the concept of a variable interior space is designed to meet the need for a versatile multi-purpose vehicle. The seats can be configured in over 30 different ways, transforming the Corolla Verso at the flick of a wrist from a seven-seater to a two-seater with a large, flat loading area without having to take the seats out. ....read more!

In- and Outsert for Large Parts
Fitting frame for Audi front end as metal/plastic sandwich moulding

The Christian Karl Siebenwurst Modell- und Formenbau GmbH & Co. KG, Dietfurt/Germany, transferred the basic idea of the insert and outsert technique to the production of large parts for the automotive industry. They built a hybrid injection mould for the fitting frame for the front end module of the Audi A4 for the first time. ....read more!

High load transfer between two materials
Front end module solution offers more efficient use of materials

GE Advanced Materials in conjunction with Carlisle Engineered Products and Vari-Form Inc., have developed an advanced Front End Module (FEM) technology that combines the strength of steel with the low mass of resins in a single cost-effective moulding process. Patented as HydroPlast Structures, the new FEM technology brings together pressure sequence hydroforming (PSH), with the established benefits of tight, reproducible tolerances, and the low-weight, high part-integration potential of engineering resins. ....read more!

Moulds in operation
Raviv-Raval choose Husky hot runners

Raviv Precision Injection Moulding together with its subsidiary Raval, is a global supplier of advanced thermoplastic precision components. With hundreds of moulds in operation, the Israel-based company depends largely on Husky’s hot runners to provide consistent, high-quality production with a minimum of maintenance. ....read more!

New tank fuels interest
Multi-layer barrier sheet for fuel tank manufacture

Legislation to limit the output of emissions from motor vehicles has meant that the automotive industry world- wide is being forced to develop new, low-pollutant fuels or alternative drive systems. Fuel-tank manufacturers too are facing the challenge of either improving standard tanks or of developing new manufacturing processes in order to comply with emissions limits. Plastic tanks produced using the twinsheet thermoforming process also comply with the latest regulations as regards the maximum permissible levels of emissions. ....read more!

Read more about several products for the automotive industry
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