Bumpers full ahead
Siegfried Wettengel, Rehau Automotive Project Manager at their Feuchtwangen 15 plant

We recently had the opportunity to hold an in-depth discussion with Siegfried Wettengel, Rehau AG + Co‘s Automotive Project Manager at their Feuchtwangen 15 plant, which is the largest automotive plant in the Rehau group of companies. We discussed the latest trends in bumper manufacturing and during a factory tour of the injection moulding processes, paint shop and assembly we were able to witness how 8,000 bumper units are produced daily in addition to door sills, wings, rear spoilers and other components. .....read more!

One-step process
One-step process

New developments have led to the creation of advanced GMT composites able to meet entirely new stiffness / weight and aesthetic criteria. One type, reinforced with a high-lofting fleece that provides improved stiffness to weight ratio and, for the first time, provides the enhanced aesthetics required for first-surface applications right out of the tool, is described here. The other type, reinforced with various types of engineered textiles, has been covered in issue 9+10/05 . ....read more!

Plus for interior
Plastics Plus products for automotive interior

BASF‘s specialty range „PlasticsPlus“ includes numerous materials that meet the needs of the automobile industry. This also refers to the interior, where major growth possibilities for suppliers are predicted. In order to be able to meet increasing demands on vehicle interiors with the necessary profitability, plastics are continually growing in significance in the material strategies of OEMs. ....read more!

Engagement for Large Parts
GE expands technology centre capabilities

At an open house on December 7, 2005, in Bergen-op-Zoom, Netherlands, GE - Plastics announced a new enhancement to its Global Application Technology Center that will enable the development of new materials for large parts such as exterior automotive body panels and glazing. GE‘s investment in a state-of-the-art Krauss-Maffei 2700 MX injection compression moulding machine will help the company address customer needs for lighter materials and greater design flexibility in large parts. ....read more!

Renault Modus
The vehicle of the month

The purpose of this section is to present in every edition of our magazine the results of design analyses of vehicles recently launched on the automobile market. The article was produced in collaboration with Mavel, a European leader in car design analysis. The aim of this article is not to present a detailed examination of a design (which is available in «Mavel’s report») but rather a throwing light on some remarkable aspects. ....read more!

BMW 1 Series - Borealis materials - BASF materials

Rocker Panel and Bumper, Door Cladding, Polyester-TPU Elastollan, ....read more!

Interior Harmony
Visteon contributes to Renault Modus interior

Innovative Visteon technology delivers seamless look and feel on instrument and door panels of Renault Modus thanks to negative vacuum forming TPO. ....read more!

Resiliency
Plastic Bumpers from Renault

Renault is the first major automotive manufacturer to consistently make use of plastic in the front bumpers of a good part of its model range. As a rule, other manufacturers tend to limit the use of this mostly to niche models like the VW Beetle or the 6-series BMW. A significant part of the success of plastic bumpers is definitely to be found in the material properties. We talked to Derek Buckmaster, International Marketing Director for the Body Panels and Glazing Division of GE Plastics, Automotive, about the background to this. ....read more!

Aesthetics under the hood
Heat-shield of
high-temperature polyamide protects Mercedes beauty-cover

Powerful diesel motors generate a lot of heat in the tightly packed motor compartment. The conventional, relatively inexpensive, nylons which are used under the bonnet for large covers soon meet their thermal tolerance limits. That is why DaimlerChrysler chose another solution for its new three-litre 6-cylinder diesel motors: a heat-shield of a high-performance nylon to protect the multi-functional beauty-cover made of glass- and mineral-reinforced nylon from local overheating. Woco Industrietechnik GmbH, of Bad Soden-Salmünster/Germany, a Tier-1 supplier, developed these parts and supplies them to DaimlerChrysler. ....read more!

35th SPE Innovations Awards Gala

At its 35th anniversary Innovation Awards Gala, held November 16th 2005 in Livonia, MI/USA, the Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers International (SPE) presented 11 awards for innovation in plastics applications and the teams of OEMs, tier suppliers, toolmakers, and materials suppliers that developed and commercialised them. The nominations pool for the 2005 judging process was the largest in at least a decade and more diverse – in terms of the numbers of OEMs and suppliers represented – than in any previous year since the event started in 1970. ....read more!

Read more about several products for the automotive industry
....read more!