Issue 01/2021

Automotive
Automotive supplier
launches PLA compounds
The automotive industry is increasingly working
on aligning vehicle production with the principles
of sustainability. The development of appropriate
materials plays a decisive role in this process. Röchling
Automotive, an automotive supplier based in Mannheim
Germany, has already started a biopolymer project in 2010,
but the market at the time had not been quite ready. Now,
Röchling believes, it is. A good decade later interest in
alternative materials, as well as recycled materials is rising.
BioBoom is the name of Röchling’s patented polylactide
(PLA)-based biopolymer that consists of at least 90 %
renewable raw materials. It offers an ecological, as well as
an economical alternative to most conventional materials.
Three standard types within the BioBoom family are
currently available, which are suitable for applications in
the engine compartment and underbody as well as for the
interior of a vehicle. Each of the three types can be tailored
to individual customer needs and their respective specific
requirements. Röchling’s BioBoom can also be used for
almost their entire product portfolio (around 70 %).
With significant improvements in terms of thermal
stability and chemical resistance compared to standard
PLA, the new biopolymer family meets the company’s high
technical requirements and specifications. More concrete,
some material grades can withstand continuous operating
temperatures of up to 150°C (as a counter-example, PP
maxes out at around 130–140°C). Most parts under the hood
should not reach these temperatures for longer durations
Air
under normal operation.
filter
box
“That doesn’t mean that
black
the parts break if these
temperatures are exceeded,
but we noticed an increased
material degradation above
150°C. Our parts need to
fulfil a certain engineering
standard, they need to
hold for 15 years or 300,000
km. In the applications that
reach these temperatures,
we compare our material
to specific PA6 and PA66,”
explains Fabrizio Barillari, Global
Product Portfolio Manager for Battery
Systems and Bio Material at Röchling. “We tried to get the
biocontent as high as possible, 30–40 % that’s not what we
at Röchling consider biobased but 100 % pure biobased
just doesn’t work with PLA.” To gain the needed material
properties the PLA is then reinforced with glass fibres, but
Röchling seeks to replace that with natural fibres in the
future.
Another base weakness of PLA according to Barillari
is continuous exposure to water in combination with
high temperatures. While he is proud of their relatively
low moisture absorption of 1–1.2 % (ISO standard) he
acknowledges that, for example, for cooling systems with
continuous temperatures of 90–100°C BioBoom is not
an option. “No material is perfect. We know this, but we
can guarantee that our material holds up to 65°C in areas
where humidity is a factor.”
BioBoom enables greenhouse gas emissions that are
about 70 % lower than those of PP and almost 90 % lower
than those of PA6. This means that if the proportion of
petrochemical plastics in a mid-sized car is replaced by
Röchling Automotive’s bioplastics, 515 kilograms of CO 2
emissions can be saved per vehicle production.
Front grille closures
in various colors
High gloss black
interior air vent insert
20 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/21] Vol. 16