Easy-moulding nylon

A recently developed nylon 66 with 50% glass fibre from Radici Plastics is said to be easy to mould while offering new opportunities for metal replacement in automotive. Plastics represent about 15% of the total weight of an average-size car, a percentage that is expected to increase to 20% over the next 10 years. Radici is pushing its new Radilon A RV500RW 339 NER as a material that will widen metal-replacement opportunities and allow moulders to produce components that are not only lighter – and thus more ecofriendly – but more complex, with multiple integrated functions. The material shows significant improvements in fatigue limits compared with competing grades and noticeable advantage in creep resistance, which is critical for applications such as valve covers and oil cups, because these components are subjected to a constant load for their entire useful life and maximum oil tightness is always required.