Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019 - 22

thermoforming

'Creating more with less'
There are many different definitions
of innovation, said Mondi's Silvia
Hanzelova, but this is the one
she prefers. "You create more
functionalities with less material."

W

Silvia
Hanzelova,
sales director,
Mondi
Belcoat NV

hile Mondi is associated in
the minds of many with
packaging, in fact, the
company does very much more than
that. Leveraging its expertise in the
extrusion layering of a broad range of
polymers and various substrates,
Mondi has developed a technology to
produce a range of customisable,
multifunctional thermoformable automotive skins.
With OEMs looking to reduce
complexity in their production processes, the structure of these skins
offers a very broad range of functionalities in a relatively thin product.
"We combine different products in a
single skin, with a focus on lightweight and acoustic properties," said
Silvia Hanzelova, Industry Group
Manager - Automotive Applications
for the company's Extrusion Coatings
business segment, in Duffel, Belgium.
As the impact of the mega-trends
e-mobility, autonomous driving, digitisation and electrification is increasingly being felt throughout the automotive industry and its supplier
domains, new solutions are needed
that can meet car makers' fast-changing requirements.
"Our composites are like human
skin, with a complex structure, an integrated design made up of different
elements that work together."

Not laminates
The thermoformable skins, consisting of a thin polymer composite and
marketed under the FeatherForm
brand name, are produced from a
broad range of polymers and various
substrates such as a glass veil - a sheet
of nonwoven glass fibre - nonwovens
or paper in a coextrusion process. This
creates a very strong bond between
the two substrates used, allowing for

Autonomous driving will change car interiors. Thermoformable skins
can play a role

'more functionalities, fewer layers and
fewer steps', as well as extra strength
and adhesion, said Hanzelova. Using a
glass veil allows part of the conventionally used chopped glass reinforcement to be replaced, which reduces
the weight while making production
easier, smoother and yielding a neater
end product. The mechanical performance, compared with chopped glass,
is the same. "One customer achieved
a weight reduction of 30% - which, in
a head liner, is a big achievement,"
said Hanzelova.
Compared with laminates, these
multifunctional skins are highly processable - 'they consist of a single
material, on a roll' - and allow for
faster and more effective production,
easy handling and lower stock levels.
The skins produced by Mondi are
not the end product, she said, but part
of the customer's larger components
like headliners, hoodliners, carpets, interior trim parts or underbody shields.
"We don't make, for example, underbody shields, but we see this as one
of the markets that is going to grow as
a result of the trend for electrical vehicles. We will need better protection of
the batteries - not only in terms of
chemical resistance and flame retardance but also in terms of a more even
heat distribution. One of the options

Traditional solution

FeatherForm

28% weight reduction

Dimensions: 138x185 cm
Weight: 650 g

Same functionality
Similar raw
material costs

Dimensions: 138x185 cm
Weight: 470 g

FeatherForm skins contribute to lightweighting ambitions

22

we offer is a skin that acts as an acoustic barrier from the roadside, while
protecting the car from damage, acting as a flame retardant, providing
chemical resistance and - very important - providing dimensional stability,"
Hanzelova continued.
"OEMs are looking to simplify the
underbody shield, she said, by using
one big piece, putting in four bolts
and that's it."
In physical terms, the skins are
made as thin as possible, made possible through the use of the glass veil
extrusion technology used in Mondi's
production lines. "The skins are thin
but are thermoformable so when they
are deep-drawn the curves are there."
Skins with different surfaces are
available - 'for example, with a nonwoven, so that when it is in contact
with the metal part, there will be no
squeak when the car is moving.'
"Using the right materials, you can
go glossy, matte, depending on what
the customer needs, or smooth textured, coloured, perforated - everything
is possible," according to Hanzelova.
Hoodliners, for example: "Because these are closer to the engine,
we need these to be fire retardant, oil
repellant; we need a light weight
thermal barrier and good dimensional stability, and all of this is possible
with a single skin,' she said.
A new concept that was developed very recently by a tier one supplier is that of a reflective headliner,
which can help regulate the temperature in the new electric cars.
"A reflective headliner can help
lower the interior temperature - useful,
as battery performance is reduced as
the car heats up; moreover, it is lightweight, hence adds no extra weight to
the product," she concluded.

july/august 2019
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