LANXESS: Focusing on lightweight construction

The LANXESS Semi-Crystalline Products (SCP) business unit is taking part in the joint stand of the Ministry for Economic Affairs, SMEs and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia at Composite Europe 2010 in Essen. “This trade fair is regarded as one of the key events for all application sectors of the composite materials market. That is why it is the ideal platform for us to meet with professional partners to discuss our latest developments for lightweight construction using composite materials such as organic sheet,” explains Hartwig Meier, Head of Product and Application Development in the SCP business unit and Deputy Chairman of the Board of the “kunststoffland NRW e. V.” industry initiative. The joint stand, whose slogan is “Lightweight Construction in NRW”, hosts universities, other companies, the “Kunststoff.NRW” and “NanoMikro+Werkstoffe.NRW” clusters and the ALROUND (Aktionsgemeinschaft luft- und raumfahrtorientierter Unternehmen in Deutschland e. V.) association.

LANXESS will be exhibiting the spare wheel recess with integrated reinforcing channels from the new Audi A8. With dimensions of 100 x 85 x 32 cm, it is unusually large for an injection-molded part and is produced using the exceptionally stiff polyamide 6 Durethan DP BKV 60 H2.0 EF reinforced with 60 percent glass fibers. “This part highlights the enormous potential that exists in lightweight construction for substituting metal by polyamides highly reinforced with glass fibers,” says Meier. It would have been very difficult to make the component from sheet metal due to the limited space available and the high thermoforming ratios. In addition, using polyamide 6 made it possible to integrate several functions directly. Incorporating these functions in a metal design would have required a large number of separate production and assembly steps with all the associated costs.

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More Information: www.lanxess.com

Composites Europe 2010, 14.-16.9.2010, Essen, Hall 10-11, St. F60

LANXESS AG, Leverkusen, Germany

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