DIRECT INCORPORATION OF GLASS BUBBLES AT THE PRESS- A ONE STEP MOLDING PROCESS TO CREATE LIGHT WEIGHT TPO PARTS

摘要

Reducing the weight of plastic parts of a vehicle has been a critical objective for the automotive industry due to increasing governmental carbon emission and mileage regulations. 3M? high strength -low density glass bubbles (hollow glass microspheres) are weight reducing micro additives for plastics and specially engineered to withstand high temperature, and shear gradients in a wide range of polymer processes including melt compounding and injection molding. In this paper, we present our preliminary findings on “master batching” as well as “direct glass bubble incorporation at the press” concepts to create lightweight TPO materials. We will demonstrate how the plastics industry and associated OEMs can exploit the light weight advantages of these novel additives using a simple one step process in conventional and non conventional injection molding machines. We also present structural and mechanical properties of these light weight TPO parts.