Issue 01/2016

Automotive
Drop-in solution for your existing equipment and
processes
Injection molding of tensile bars and then larger parts
(Photo 1) proved the mechanical performance and easy
processability of reSound NF formulation. Like most natural
fiber reinforced thermoplastics, reSound NF material should
be processed at temperatures below 200 °C in order to
maintain the integrity of the naturally-originating fibers.
Using low temperatures also offers potential energy savings
and short cooling times, providing an efficient yield for
manufacturers.
Further testing revealed that reSound NF material is
compatible with and shows robust property retention when
molded on machinery outfitted with the MuCell ® foaming
technology from Trexel. The retention is as robust as PP‐SGF
for tensile properties, is even more robust for flexural
properties, and clearly more stable for impact properties.
The reSound NF solutions also are compatible with chemical
foaming technologies, and exhibit strong bonding with
selected thermoplastic elastomers, also found in PolyOne’s
solutions portfolio. Separate trials also proved that customers
could select a reSound NF concentrate, rather than a fully
compounded formulation with a predetermined percentage
of fiber loading, if they wanted to adjust final reinforcement
levels vs. application needs.
Finally, tests also were conducted to determine the
recyclability of reSound NF material. Tensile bars were
molded, reground, and molded again with the regrind material
only. This was repeated three times.
These results show a very stable performance towards
regrinding for reSound NF versus PP-SGF. It seems the
limitation in the on-line re-introduction of reground PP-SGF
into the manufacturing process does not apply to reSound
NF material, which offers a potential “no scrap” process for
manufacturers.
Time for a change
Advanced material and manufacturing technologies have
been combined to create reSound NF, a NFR-TP solution
with a low specific gravity but offering excellent mechanical
properties. Manufacturers can select reSound NF natural fiber
reinforced solutions to reduce parts’ weights 5 – 10 % lower
than ones made using comparable glass fiber formulations.
Compared to other natural fiber reinforced solutions,
reSound NF solutions offer mechanical property improvements
of more than 20 % for tensile and flexural properties, 10 °C
to 20 °C higher heat deflection temperature, and more than
50 % in impact strength.
Customers can process reSound NF material on existing
machinery and tooling at low injection molding temperatures,
resulting in short cycle times. These new natural fiber
reinforced polymer formulations enable automotive OEMs and
their suppliers to meet goals for lightweighting, sustainability,
production efficiency and performance.
Customers from non-automotive industries that value
lightweighting and sustainable solutions in technical
applications can benefit from reSound NF formulations too.
www.polyone.com
Carbon/Flax hybrid automotive roof
The CARBIO project has developed a carbon/flax hybrid automotive roof using Composite Evolution’s Biotex Flax material.
The project, which involves Jaguar Land Rover, is developing novel carbon/flax hybrid composites to produce automotive
structures with reduced weight, cost, environmental impact and improved noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).
The adoption of carbon fibre-epoxy composites to reduce vehicle weight is presenting significant challenges to the volume
automotive industry. Compared to carbon, flax fibres are renewable, lower in cost, CO 2
neutral and have excellent vibration
damping properties. In addition, bio-epoxy resins based on cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) can offer enhanced toughness,
damping and sustainability over synthetic epoxies.
By creating a hybrid structure using flax-bioepoxy to replace some of the carbon, enhanced properties such as lower weight,
cost, NVH and environmental impact can be gained.
A 50/50 carbon/flax hybrid biocomposite, made from Biotex Flax supplied by Composites Evolution and prepregged by SHD
Composite Materials, has significantly contributed to achieving the objectives of the project. With equal bending stiffness to
carbon fibre, the hybrid biocomposite has:
• 15 % lower cost
• 7 % lower weight
• 58 % higher vibration damping
The prototype roof, designed by Delta Motorsport and manufactured
by KS Composites, was displayed at the Advanced Engineering show, last
November in Birmingham, UK.
The CARBIO project is part-funded by Innovate UK. The partners are
Composites Evolution, SHD Composite Materials, KS Composites, Delta
Motorsport, Jaguar Land Rover and Cranfield University. MT
http://carbioproject.com
14 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/16] Vol. 11