AUTOMOTIVE
BASF: New Smart car roofs / PFM-System offers plastic parts with high-gloss appearance
Innovation in automotive plastics took another step forward recently with the start of production this year of an integrated roof module for the MCC Smart car. The roof module, which is manufactured by ArvinMeritor (D-38518 Gifhorn; www.arvinmeritor.com), comprises a highgloss black laminated plastic panel housing a black-tinted sliding glass sunroof. The key to achieving a “Class A” surface finish on this non-painted part is a BASF finishing system called “paintless film moulding” (PFM-System). PFM meets all requirements as regards chemical resistance, weathering, heat deformation, scratch resistance and gloss.

Aside from MCC Smart GmbH (D-71272 Renningen; www.smart.com), the car maker, four other companies were involved in the development of the roof module: Elastogran GmbH (D-49448 Lemförde; www.elastogran.de), with its “Elastoflex” polyurethane structural foam system; Senoplast Klepsch & Co GmbH & Co KG (A-5721 Piesendorf; www.senoplast.com), which makes the high-gloss film “Senotop”; Röhm & Co KG (D-64293 Darmstadt; www.plexiglas.de), the supplier of the PMMA-lidding laminate; BASF AG (D-67056 Ludwigshafen; www.basf.de), which supplied the PFM-System as well as the film material.

The new Smart roof module is the first large vehicle body part in which glass and plastic with similar stylistic characteristics have been combined to produce a high-quality painted appearance. The roof module is made by thermoforming the PFM film – a coextrusion of BASF´s “Luran” S (ASA and ASA+PC) capped with two layers of PMMA from the “Plexiglas” models by Röhm – to the shape of the roof and injecting onto its inside surface a layer of Elastogran´s Elastoflex, a long glass-fibre reinforced polyurethane foam. Both the film extrusion and the subsequent thermoforming represented important technical challenges for Senoplast and ArvinMeritor since either process can affect the quality of the resulting surface; the injection pressure in the foam lamination step is too low to be able to “iron out” any surface unevenness. ArvinMeritor therefore worked closely with the manufacturer of the high-performance thermoforming unit installed at its Gifhorn site.

Post-moulding assembly and finishing operations are minimized by integrating the main parts of the sunroof´s sliding mechanism into the roof module during the foam moulding process.

BASF: “The new MCC Smart roof module demonstrates the huge potential of PFM-System as a cheaper alternative to the paint finishing of large automotive body parts. Moreover, the PFM-System is ideal for modularized designs since it enables a perfect colour match and uniform surface finish-irrespective of whether the individual parts come from different suppliers. Within a few years vehicles with high-gloss, in-mould laminated body panels will become a more common sight an our roads.”
12.12.2002 Plasteurope.com [15289]
Published on 12.12.2002

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