A Review of the Development and Validation of Reactor Produced Ethylene-Propylene Plastomer for Passenger Side Air Bag Covers

摘要

Flexible polyolefin resins have been used in driver and passenger side air bag covers for some time. Recent innovations utilizing Basell's Catalloy reactor technology have enabled the use of reactor thermoplastic polyolefins (RTPO's) in these air bag cover applications. As development for air bag systems evolved to the passenger and side airbag covers, material improvements, particularly lower stiffness, became necessary. Basell's Catalloy reactor technology provides the versatility required to produce these new resins with improved flexibility. New polymer developments were evaluated for passenger and side air bag covers (and for driver air bag covers in a separate deployment study). These new developments were directed toward low gloss, low stiffness and good processability without sacrificing low temperature impact performance. A review of polymer development, characteristics, and ultimate air bag deployment and validation is provided.