Although BASF’s metal foams are as stable as massive metal, they weigh considerably less. The metal foams are manufactured with the help of a trick: three to five millimeter sized Styrofoam spheres are coated with carbonyl iron powder in a fluidized bed.
“Innovation will require more and more interdisciplinary approach, where experts in different area, industries to find sustainable solution to meet future challenges.”
Lightweight and Safe
Many people may currently doubt the safety and durability of plastics when they are used to replace metals in daily life, but it’s a view that undoubtedly will change with the new technologies available. “Now the application of plastics is not limited to jugs and mugs. To be more precisely, they are composites with higher specific strength than steel,” said Michael Sun, Senior Manager specializing in Automotive Market Development for Engineering Plastics at BASF in Greater China, adding he hoped to eliminate people’s prejudices against “plastics”.
Tough and durable as steel, such “plastics” are in fact new materials combining various kinds of glass fiber, carbon fiber and metal power, which presents an important breakthrough for the modern scientific world. The composition and innovation in materials are extremely challenging and BASF research and development (R&D) teams are continually working in this field.
The design and process, however, are critical to ensure plastics parts have similar performance with metal rivals. “Material design principles are subject to specific applications demanding different properties, besides material performance differs according to the processes and methods of production,” Sun noted.“Currently, metal designer are still the mainstream and plastic designers the minority, which is why BASF, as a material supplier, is involved in the product and process design of our customers.”
Following a material test, the carbon fibers remain firmly imbedded in the polymer matrix made of the Baxxodur® epoxy resin system. This kind of lightweight automobile construction reduces weight, which lowers carbon emissions.
According to Dr. Ates Erk, Head of China Technical Research & Development Center, BASF Polyurethane Specialties, plastics can actually be “very smart” due to their versatility. “People are inclined to consider metal solutions as the strongest and safest ones. Nevertheless, lightweight plastics and composites, with special structural design, can effectively reduce and absorb impact energy and provide increased protection to passengers,” he explained. “Energy absorbing Polyurethane foam is just one example of how plastics contribute to car safety.”
Sun emphasized all innovative material parts are subject to stringent safety tests before their commercialization. “Computer-aided simulation systems are very helpful in lowering the complexity and improving testing efficiency. However, currently they still cannot replace the final real-world tests, which ensure absolute safety of the parts,” Sun said.
“The importance of China as market for plastics and composites is growing fast and we already have a strong R&D team in Asia,” added Dr. Erk. “In the future, we will settle more and more key R&D competencies in the region to meet the needs of our customers with innovative products.”
Glass fiber-reinforced composite skinned sandwich structures are composed of Kerdyn® PET foam and the Baxxodur® epoxy system. They enable larger, highly robust and lightweight rotor blades and help make wind energy more efficient.
Driven by Sustainable Development
A spiration for a “portable” life and acceptance of energy-efficient and environmental-protection concepts are among the key drivers for lightweighting. This concept not only makes things conveniently “portable,” but also remarkably reduces energy consumption.
“When people talk about environmentally-friendly materials, the first thing to come up is ‘recycling’. However, BASF takes a whole-life-cycle approach to materials, which consists of four stages from raw material production, parts production, product usage to end-of-life disposal. Recycling is only a small part of it,” Sun said. “Take vehicles as an example, statistics show that product usage accounts for 85% ofenergy consumption in the whole lifecycle, while in sharp contrast, recycling –even in an ideal scenario of 100% recyclable – accounts for only 0.2%. Therefore, reducing the energy consumption in transportation with lightweight solutions is vital. Of course, our composite materials are actually recyclable.”
According to Dr. Piyada Charoensirisomboon, Vice President of BASF Innovation Campus Asia Pacific (Shanghai),“Innovation will require more and more interdisciplinary approach, where experts in different area, industries to find sustainable solution to meetfuture challenges.”
What about lightweighting on Chinaplas 2014?
Join us on April 23~26 :
- Booth B41, Hall N1
- Shanghai New International Expo Center, 2345 Longyang Road
- 9:30 - 17:30, April 23-26, 2014
We create chemistry for a sustainable future!
