Next Generation PP Compounds for Automotive Applications
Introduction:
The automotive industry today is faced by a number of challenges. Global market, newer designs at shorter span, at the same time there are legislative pressures to optimize the safety and environmental aspects of the industry’s products, while consumer expectations of comforts and performance are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
The industry trends are towards increasingly high performance products, particularly in the realm of weight reduction and zero gap design.
Increasing performance requirements in the automotive industry like dimensional stability, impact stiffness balance & the ability to fit together with parts produced in different locations are particularly challenging for large automotive parts.
The scratch & mar resistance in PP compound is demanded as consumer demands good the current trend than the historical -20 requirement in applications such as bumper, fascia & interior parts.
Scope for Innovation:
Classical PP Compounds do not fulfill customers critical high end requirements for high aesthetics, bright colour options, balance of impact & stiffness, scratch resistance, shrinkage & warpage.
Minerals, typically a platy mineral like talc & mica help control warpage while needle shaped mineral like wollostonite control shrinkage.
MOH’s hardness of wollostonite is 5 as compared to 1 of talc.
Glass fiber reinforcement has good machine direction properties but prone to warpage. Talc & mica improves transverse direction properties & minimizes warpage.
Spherical calcium carbonate particles gives improved stiffness impact balance
The stiffness / impact strength property balance of mineral reinforced Polypropylene is directly linked to the particle shape, size of the mineral and how it disperses in the matrix. High lamellerity for optimum reinforcement is key to its reinforcing efficiency.
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Karan K Chandan Technovinyl Polymers India Ltd. Article Source:
Tags: applications, automotive, compounds, generation, next, pp