The global supplier of specialty polymers, Solvay has further invested in the Application Development Center at its Bollate, Italy facility to support the growth of its automotive customers in the EMEA. To meet ever challenging OEM fluid handling component development requirements, the company has added new state-of-the-art extrusion equipment alongside advanced injection moulding processing capabilities.

The recent development and introduction of a game-changing series of Ryton polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) extrusion grades now offers OEMs an exciting opportunity to design streamlined, lightweight and integrated engine and powertrain fluid handling systems.

“Combining the new Ryton PPS extrusion grades with commercial Ryton PPS injection moulding materials for custom designed brackets and connectors provides cost reduction through simplified design and manufacturing when replacing metal and rubber mixed solutions”, said Mark Wright, global automotive market manager for Solvay’s Specialty Polymers global business unit. “But more importantly, it better meets the technical requirements of today’s thermal management systems to replace incumbent solutions, such as polyamides, which cannot meet the increased mechanical and thermal performance levels in the extreme heat of a reduced engine compartment”.

To speed application development and time to market, Solvay provides tiers and OEM customers a dedicated fluid-handling design laboratory offering all aspects of application development from part design to prototype cooling line extrusion. It also includes post-extrusion thermoforming trials of tubing to help optimize space in the constrained engine bay.

“When we solve problems for our customers, Solvay grows”, said Mike Finelli, president of Solvay’s Specialty Polymers global business unit. “By creating a dedicated facility to support the developing technology of our automotive customers, we strengthen our position as an industry leader in advanced materials and solutions to generate long-term growth and contribute to a more sustainable world”.

Solvay manufactures a broad portfolio of advanced specialty polymers for the automotive industry, which relies increasingly on sophisticated lightweighting materials solutions to replace metals in automotive exterior/interior and underhood applications to enable the industry to comply with tougher fuel and emission regulations.