Automotive manufacturers continue to require more power from smaller engines and reduced weight. This encourages the use of more engineering plastics and UK based Engineering plastics compounder 4PLAS has been expanding its range of performance compounds to meet this growing demand for smarter more efficient lighter vehicles.
To extract more power from smaller engines they need to work at higher temperatures. Therefore, engine components are required to work under higher thermal load, this in turn requires materials that have higher continuous use temperature (CUT). We have 4TECH PPA & PPS grades that achieve CUT from 180°C to 210°C.
The growing use of hybrid technology presents additional challenges, whilst it reduces CO2 emissions, it requires high electrical power distribution through the vehicle. Along with the increase in sensor numbers and the use of more capable electronic devices, power requirement in the vehicles has drastically increased. This growth in power need also increases the risk of fire in the vehicle. When you include the elevated engine compartment temperature, new solutions need to be found such as our 4TECH PPA flame retardant grades
Vehicles continue to get smarter and more autonomous. Infotainment systems ever more complex and numerous. All these additional sensors, batteries, cables and screens increase the weight of the vehicle. So, the challenge is meeting all these needs without increasing the weight of the vehicle.
This requirement generates a greater opportunity for lighter higher performance engineering compounds. 4PLAS are already working to offer unique intelligent solutions through our extensive range and technical knowledge, to provide compounds for metal replacement & weight reduction projects.
Materials like 4TECH PA6.6+PP, 20% glass fibre & glass bubble reinforced which can provide an18% weight reduction when compared to a standard PA6.6 GF30 and comparable mechanical properties. Also, a new generation of 4MID materials have been developed to replace PA applications that don’t require as high a heat performance. One example of these grades has a 125 MPa tensile strength and 10000 MPa tensile modulus after conditioning and can replace standard PA66 GF50 applications without any cost penalty but with a 13% weight reduction. Furthermore, new 4TECH grades offer new possibilities in metal replacement, showing excellent surface finish even with 60% glass fibre reinforcement. this combination can remove any need of further painting or finishing and shows much better performance than aluminium in fatigue tests.
In the development of all of these grades 4PLAS has considered the future recycling requirements by ensuring that all our materials do not compromise future recyclability of components, indeed in many cases the material could be recycled back into the original application.
