The automotive industry is the second largest consumer of polyolefins and their use in vehicles is estimated to grow annually at nearly 9% over the next five years. Polypropylene (PP), polyolefin elastomers (POE), and some mineral fillers such as talc, calcium carbonates, and silicates are the key components of several automotive parts.
Polypropylene is the most commonly used polyolefin in automobiles and provides good impact strength, processability, mechanical properties and dimensional stability, and low density. On the other hand, thermoplastic elastomers (or polyolefin elastomers) such as styrene-based block copolymers (TPE-S), polyolefin blends (TPOs) and dynamically vulcanized blends (TPVs), provide weight-reducing or light-weighting benefits for greenhouse gas reductions and higher fuel efficiency.
Due to the distinct properties provided by each component, their composition varies, depending on where the polyolefins will be used in a vehicle. Exhibit 1 below shows a few examples of vehicle parts and their illustrative compositions. As each of these parts has different wear and performance needs such as noise cancellation, vibration resistance, impact/stiffness balance, UV stability and creep properties, varying concentrations of PP, POEs and fillers are required.
Exhibit 1. Composition of select automotive parts
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By Uday Turaga and Panuswee Dwivedi