Plastics News - Show Daily - October 15, 2024 - 7

FAKUMA 2024
Plastics News, October 15, 2024 * 7
High-gloss, lightweight, recycled materials win European auto awards
By David Vink
Plastics News Correspondent
The Society of Plastics Engineers
Central Europe held its 22nd
Automotive Awards Night in Bonn,
Germany, in a series stretching
back to 1992.
The 23rd Award Night will be
held on Oct. 6, 2025, shortly before
the K 2025 fair, Oct. 8-15, 2025.
Among a total of 43 submissions,
body exterior fi rst place
went to a " ColorFuse " high-gloss
piano black wheel arch liner produced
by Techniplas Schwäbisch
Gmünd GmbH (Hall B2, Booth
2108) for the Volkswagen Tiguan
R-Line since November 2023.
The part is free of sink marks,
fl ow lines and release agents, and
it is produced by single-shot, solvent-free,
three-component injection
molding on a Spinform machine
from Parsdorf, Germany-based
KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH
(Hall A7, Booth 7303). The wheel
arch liner uses a polycarbonate/
ABS blend from Leverkusen, Germany-based
Covestro AG (Hall B4,
Booth 4208) and TPE for bodywork
contact from Waldkraiburg, Germany-based
Kraiburg TPE GmbH & Co.
KG (Hall B5, Booth 5303).
Techniplas applies aliphatic
polyurea in-mold coating from
Leverkusen-based Panadur GmbH
in a separate mold cavity.
The compact part achieved 30
percent weight reduction. It reduces
costs and saves energy by elimination
of assembly operations and
painting, with its associated overA
Mercedes-Benz engine
cover, microcellular foam
molded in a glass-fi ber nylon
6.6/6 blend.
SPE photo
spray and waste.
A roof rail support pad molded
by Untereisesheim, Germany-based
Gutsche Engineering GmbH for the
Mercedes-Benz GLC since June
2022 took exterior second place.
Gutsche uses TL80WG, a Shore
A 80 hardness TPE fi lled with 3M
Deutschland GmbH glass bubbles,
reducing weight by 25 percent. Kraiburg
TPE claims 75 percent sustainable
materials content.
Powertrain
First place in the powertrain
category went to a Daimler AG
engine cover, molded since April
2021 by Bad Soden-Salmünster,
Germany-based Woco
Industrietechnik
GmbH.
The Wocomid TX GF35HW4
compound used is a special and renamed
version of Akromid C3GF35
5XTC, a 35 percent glass-fi ber-reinforced,
heat-stabilized nylon
6.6/6 blend, made by Niederzissen,
Germany-based compounder AkThe
EZ-Go electric drive
tractor received an enabler
technology award for its
Pentatonic battery housing
and cell holders.
Photo by David Vink
ro-Plastic GmbH (B2-2213).
Woco molds the part in the MuCell
microcellular foam process
from Tellig, Germany-based Trexel
GmbH (Hall A4, Booth 4007), with
weight, tool temperature and cycle
time advantages.
Akro-Plastic led among material
suppliers, featuring in 10
awards. That included the second-place
winner in powertrain,
for a Porsche Taycan cooler module,
molded and direct lasered as
from 1Q 2024 by Milan, Italy-headquartered
Sogefi SpA. The 30 percent
glass-fi ber-reinforced Akrotek
PKVMGF30
modifi ed aliphatic
polyketone grade has a smaller environmental
footprint than nylon
6/6, PPA or PPS.
Also in powertrain, fi fth place
went to a part with " up to 100
percent " Renycle mechanically
recycled nylon 6 compounds from
Chignolo d'Isola, Italy-based Radici
Novacips SpA (Hall A1, Booth
1106). The parts are molded by
Lucid Gravity IV aluminum
overmolded by carbonfi
ber nylon 6 (above), and
Volkswagen ID7 electric car
instrument panel crossbeam.
SPE photo
Corbetta, Italy-headquartered
Marelli Europe SpA into the 2021
model year electric drive Fiat 500E
car air intake manifold.
The nylon 6 grades are 35 percent
glass-fi ber-reinforced AGF3504K
and 30 percent
ber-reinforced heat-stabilized and
release-agent-modifi ed SGF3004K.
Radici claims 70 percent lower CO2
emission, SGF3004K having global
warming potential slightly over 1 kg
CO2 equivalent per kg, compared
with above 5 kg with virgin nylon 6.
Electromobility
A Volkswagen ID7 electric car
instrument panel (IP) crossbeam
took fi rst place
Basell Deutschland GmbH (Hall
B1, Booth 1112). Gas-assist channels
on both sides boost stiffness.
A Lucid Motors Gravity IV electric
car took chassis/structural
fi rst place for a hybrid plastic/
metal IP crossbeam, due for production
in Q4 2024. The molder,
ElringKlinger AG, produces similar
hollow aluminum profi le-based
crossbeams in a hydroforming
technique licensed from original
use at Daimler in Hamburg, Germany.
Fluid at high pressure inside an
aluminum profi le simultaneously
forms the profi le shape while preventing
profi le collapse from overmolding
injection pressure.
But instead of a glass-fi ber-reinglass-fi
-
forced nylon 6 from Envalior GmbH
(Hall B4, Booth 4302), ElringKlinger
has cut weight in the Lucid application
by 10 percent through switching
to Akromid B3 ICF 30, a 30
percent recycled carbon-fi ber-reinforced
nylon 6 from Akro-Plastic,
molded on a machine from
Schwertberg-based Engel Austria
GmbH (Hall A5, Booth 5203).
The EZ-Go electric drive tractor
for body interior.
Wallau, Germany-based Stieler
Kunststoff Service GmbH has
molded the crossbeam since Q3
2023 for Forvia SE on a KraussMaffei
machine. The part uses 25 percent
glass-fi ber-reinforced PP from
received an enabler technology
award for its Pentatonic battery
housing and cell holders.
Kautex Textron GmbH & Co. KG
has molded the parts on Engel
Austria machinery since May 2023,
the honeycomb structure battery
cell holder with integrated cooling
channels in Envalior Durethan
B30S 30 percent glass fi ber reinforced
nylon 6, but Akro-Plastic 50
percent glass-fi ber-reinforced Akromid
nylon 6 grade for the housing.
Plastics News - Show Daily - October 15, 2024

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