Plastics News Europe - June 2019 - 13

automotive plastics

It's not a new technology, but the transition to using Moulded-In
Colour (MIC) plastic parts versus painted ones is gathering speed.
Will paint lines go the way of the buggy whip? By Gary Fielding

trend Report: automotive
moulded-in colour
applications set to surge

set
I Iset
stan-

elcome to the rebirth of a good
idea: injection moulded plastic
parts in colour to replace paint.
This is a process in which colour masterbatch
is added to natural (uncoloured) pellets, or a
pre-coloured polymer formulation is used.
The resulting parts offer a level of colour brilliance comparable to painted plastic parts,
including metallic looks, and they can be
manufactured at a significantly lower cost
and without the volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) emitted during painting.
With MIC, parts exit the mould ready for
assembly. The process is more flexible than
painting, enabling speedier colour changes.
And scratches are less noticeable, because
the "inside" colour and the "outside" colour
are the same. With added UV resistance within masterbatches and pre-coloured materials,
MIC plastic parts also retain brilliant colour
through years of weather and sunlight.
Car manufacturers have been interested
in replacing painted plastic parts with MIC
parts for years. In fact, one of the first MIC
front bumper fascias appeared on an early
Saturn model vehicle using DuPont Surlyn
material in the 1990s.
With MIC, the entire painting and curing
line becomes unnecessary. Potential cost
savings exceed 30%, and MIC ups the sustainability factor by reducing energy and water consumption.
So why are we seeing momentum only
recently? Automotive suppliers and OEMs initially resisted the change and were not financially motivated to deactivate paint lines that
were already in place. Also, incorporating a
masterbatch requires a small investment in
feeding equipment, and it demands employee training, which furthered the resistance.
Today, the industry has reached a point in
which no OEM can look past the savings
available with MIC. After over 100 years of
developing only internal combustion en-

standards.
dards.

MIC allows parts to be manufactured
at a significantly lower cost

gines, carmakers now must also invest in developing electric vehicles, autonomous travel, and even MaaS (Mobility as a Service)
platforms. Implementing MIC may be their
best shot at boosting available investment
capital to cover these additional needs.
To gain the full benefits, there are a few
challenges to overcome in implementing
MIC, including:
* Matching the colour and effect of paint as
closely as possible;
* Maintaining the effect after multiple conversion processes;
* Moulding parts without unacceptable appearance defects;
* Providing UV stability.
Developing a formulation filled with, for example, soft metallic flake, and maintaining its
aesthetic and mechanical properties requires a
degree of experience. Material suppliers must
also understand how the orientation of special
effect pigments can alter visible flow lines.
OEMs and suppliers who are successful at
incorporating MIC plan for it early in the design
cycle, before a mould has been made, because
another critical element for success in MIC is the
correct design (gating, weld lines) of the part
and mould. Too often in the past, refusal to invest in a new mould has spelled disaster.
These manufacturers are developing new
technical requirements for MIC parts, recognising that they are different than painted
parts. More work is being done to align an
OEM's purchasing, design and engineering
departments on the benefits and challenges
of MIC. These separate departments need to
collaborate more closely with each other,
and with their material suppliers, to fully realise the savings available with MIC.

With MIC, parts exit the mould ready
for assembly

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Gary Fielding is global marketing director,
Colour, Additives & Inks, PolyOne Corporation
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June 2019

09.04.19 14:54

http://www.hasco.com

Plastics News Europe - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News Europe - June 2019