Increasingly stringent fuel standards are motivating the automotive industry to focus on reducing the weight of vehicle components and, ultimately, improving energy efficiency while still offering style and comfort. Automakers and automotive suppliers are also keenly interested in the most efficient and cost-effective process for manufacturing a part.
Advancements in polyurethane spray sandwich systems from Bayer MaterialScience LLC are helping to meet all these goals.
Mike Super, applications development manager, Polyurethane Composites and Polyurethane Reaction Injection Molding, Bayer MaterialScience LLC, will share recent developments in this area when he presents “Evolution of an excellent lightweighting tool – Baypreg® PUR sandwich composites.” Super’s talk at 8:30 a.m., Friday, Sept. 13, is part of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition, which is being held through Sept. 13 in Novi, Mich.
Super will share insights into new Bayer developments that can be used to guide manufacturers on the best way to hit their specific component targets, such as part cost, thickness or weight, deflection, and bio-renewable content with different polyurethane spray sandwich technology formulations.
Super will also talk about recent advancements in formulation chemistry that are enabling a simplified spray process. For instance, traditional formulations can require carbon dioxide gas being dissolved into the polyol to improve flow of the polyurethane – especially important when spraying a complex part with multiple dimensions.
“New polyurethane systems do not require carbon dioxide nucleation, so simple, flat-part geometries, as well as complicated geometries, can now be made without nucleation,” Super said.
The new polyurethane systems release more easily from the mold. The result can contribute to lower production costs because of better demolding, more time between applications of mold release, additional time between touch-ups of mold release and less scrap due to cosmetic issues. Less mold build-up and longer usage times between mold cleanings also can help to provide more machine uptime.
Attendees of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition are invited to visit Bayer’s booth (P9) to learn more about polyurethane technology.