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01/09/2007
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Car-makers are placing strenuous demands on foam materials. They must be durable while offering good haptic properties, flexible, robust, odourless and have low emission values.
These requirements are said to be met by Alveolit TP EE and Alveo-Soft, the latest polyolefin foams developed by Sekisui Alveo AG.
The properties of foams used in automotive interiors often suffer due to direct solar radiation. Because of the harsh exposure, car makers place high demands on processing materials. High heat resistance is usually associated with hard materials so the extraordinary softness and good tactile properties of the TP EE polypropylene sheet foam is a significant breakthrough. It is scheduled to go into serial production during 2008.
In Alveo-Soft, the chemists have succeeded in producing the world’s softest polyethylene (PE) foam. One application of this foam, described as being “virtually visco-elastic,” is the insulation of an A-pillar. It adapts well to uneven surfaces, which is an ideal characteristic for applications in buses where aisle floors can be uneven due to their welded construction.
The material has good compression set, is hydrophobic (making it a very poor breeding ground for mould and other micro-organisms) and has a partly open cell structure that makes it some 10 times softer than closed cell polyolefin foams.
After extrusion, the matrix undergoes a cross-linking treatment that creates links between the long carbon chains of the polyolefin compounds, giving the material its good mechanical properties. The material is foamed in a third and last step.
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Author
Roger Bishop
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Copyright European Automotive Design.
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