A new approach in composites for automotive

The weight saving trend in the automotive sector is not only unbroken; it is becoming increasingly important as the year 2020 approaches. This is when the fleet CO2 emissions of European automobile manufacturers must comply with significantly more stringent requirements. For this reason, Basf is now expanding its activities in the field of engineering plastics to include a completely new approach called Ultracom. This is a package of three components: continuous fibre reinforced semi-finished products, adapted overmoulding compounds and the complementing engineering support. The key innovations in this new approach are laminates based on woven fabrics and unidirectional (UD) tapes that are fully impregnated with Ultramid or Ultradur, the polyamide and PBT materials produced by the company. These thermoplastic composites are being enhanced in a development cooperation together with TenCate, the globally active fiber-reinforced composites manufacturer, and Owens Corning, the leading supplier of glass fibres. The second component of the Ultracom package consists of the overmoulding materials that have been developed specifically for use with these laminates. These materials are also from the Ultramid and Ultradur product lines, this time in the form of compounds. By using them in combination with the laminates and tapes, it is possible to injection mould complex parts that have very high mechanical reinforcement by use of continuous fibres at precisely defined locations while simultaneously incorporating specific functions as the result of overmoulding. For customer projects requiring parts of high stiffness, the package consists of an Ultralaminate based on polyamide 6 (or an Ultratape, if highly directed reinforcements are needed) in combination with Ultramid G12 COM with 60% glass fibre reinforcement as overmolding compound. For crash loaded applications with a special need for impact strength, the multinational offers a package which is optimized for high energy absorption. This package consists of Ultralaminate and Ultramid ZG7 COM. In this case the tape version Ultratape exists for local reinforcement. The third component of the Ultracom package is of great importance for developers of parts made from composites: it covers the extensive engineering support provided by the Basf application engineering group. This includes not only assistance in the form of designing the part on a computer with the aid of the universal simulation instrument Ultrasim, but also support when it comes to processing the material and manufacturing the part.