While plastics technology has generally fared very well in the automotive business, it has had to fight hard for every piece of chrome and steel it has replaced. Even today, most automotive engineers are primarily schooled firstly in metallurgy and only then in other materials.
For plant-based plastics like PLA, the challenge has been even greater and acceptance has been slow in coming.
A collaborative project from plastics specialist Röchling with BASF and Europe’s leading polymer compounder, Benvic, proposes to show that biobased materials can deliver performance – and environmental benefits.
The environmental advantages, in terms of both the carbon footprint and emission rates, tended in the past not to be able to outweigh the disadvantages in respect of thermomechanical performance and resistance to climate conditions.
Benvic has developed Plantura formulation technology that changes the game. For some time now, the company’s Plantura biobased polymer compounds have been successfully going up against more traditional materials such as polyamides or PMMA/ASA formulations, the company said.
Benvic’s compounds, with their increased thermal resistance, hydrolysis, fatigue resistance, and resistance at impact, have been found to be suitable to replace conventional polymers in engineered parts. Customised additives provided by BASF impart the required UV resistance properties required for parts continuously exposed to solar rays.
As a result, filter boxes, active grill shutters, grills, air intake ducts and engine beauty covers made of biobased Plantura PLA compounds are being readied for introduction on the market. According to Röchling, some are already in series production.
The three partners had the first results of the collaboration on display at the K fair in October.