{"id":18735,"date":"2025-01-29T07:38:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T13:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=18735"},"modified":"2025-01-29T07:38:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T13:38:06","slug":"pe-lighter-weight-plastics-for-automotive-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/18735\/pe-lighter-weight-plastics-for-automotive-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighter weight plastics for automotive applications"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A prevalent trend in the automotive industry is to achieve a lower overall CO2 <\/sub>footprint. Several technologies play a part, including new materials specifications, parts miniaturisation, sustainable manufacture and using the automobile as a source of recycled materials. However, we have long reached the point where the return on developing new polymer grades is often insufficient to justify the expenditure; so automotive materials engineers have to look elsewhere to shave more weight off their designs.<\/p>\n

Miniaturisation –<\/strong> the ability to produce microplastic components with high precision – achieves this goal not through the use of innovative polymers, but via the development of micro moulding processes. Its impact is not just limited to the automotive sectors, but in a wide range of other industries as well, including medical, electronics and telecommunications. Watch for my next article focused on micro moulding.<\/p>\n

The Role of Critical Material Recovery in Automotive Recycling<\/strong> – according to a December 2024 report by Jack Howley, Technology Analyst at IDTechEx (Ref 1), with over 100 million electric vehicles (EVs) expected to reach end-of-life over the next two decades, automotive scrap is rapidly becoming a more attractive source of critical materials than many primary mineral sources, especially in the metallic field.<\/p>\n

The automotive manufacturing industry is among the largest consumers of primary raw materials such as steel, aluminium, copper, and plastics<\/a>, but makes little use of recycled materials<\/a>. Although the recycling rates of materials from ELVs are generally high, the scrap metals produced are of low quality and only small amounts of plastic are recycled.<\/p>\n

The sector’s reliance on critical materials for decarbonization will fundamentally change end-of-life vehicle recycling and metal value recovery. The recovery of valuable platinum, palladium, and rhodium used in catalytic converters for emission control has long supported the auto scrap recycling market. However, greater vehicle electrification means that the critical metals and rare-earth elements (REEs) used in Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and electric motors are emerging as a primary value opportunity.<\/p>\n

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Polymer recycling<\/strong><\/p>\n

What of polymers? It is harder to identify valuable recycling opportunities with polymers. However, one good example which has emerged towards the end of 2024 is that in Germany, Adient, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Dow have worked together to produce seat foam for luxury cars using closed-loop recycled components<\/a>. This is believed to represent an industry-first in the automotive sector.<\/p>\n

In order to address the environmental impact of the polyurethane (PU) foams used in car seats, the industry partners decided to team up. So-called \u2018post-consumer\u2019 PU moulded foams have been collected from end-of-life vehicles, sorted, and shredded. From this basis, Dow is producing a new, circular polyol, which is subsequently processed and integrated into Adient\u2019s seating formulas. As a result, the Adient Front Seat Cushion prototypes are currently composed of 20% re-polyol from PU end-of-life vehicles.<\/p>\n

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1<\/strong> Front Seat Cushion Prototype Left Side (courtesy Adient)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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2<\/strong> Front Seat Cushion Prototype Top View (courtesy Adient)<\/em><\/p>\n

What are circular polyols?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In general, circular polyols are a sustainable alternative to reduce waste and promote circular economy principles. Reduced circular polyols are made from post-consumer or post-industrial waste, such as used mattresses, furniture cushions and automotive parts.<\/p>\n

The process includes collection and sorting, chemical depolymerization, purification and fractionation, and reformulation and processing.<\/p>\n

Circular polyols have several benefits, including:<\/p>\n