Automotive interior environmental protection material application status

The problem of air quality in the car has been increasingly concerned by the owners, but the degree of attention that the Chinese people attach to the air quality in the car is not enough. The main reason is that the color of the interior looks good, the model is beautiful or the workmanship is fine. Whether the material is environmentally friendly or the toxic components contained in the air in the vehicle is not well understood, this will lead to the impact of the air inside the vehicle on the health of passengers. This article will provide an overview of the current environmental materials and technologies used by some companies.

Toyota RAV4 interior uses Softex leather material Natural animal leather is often used in interior materials for luxury cars, but its use in automobiles has been limited due to its high cost and opposition from the Animal Protection Society.

At present, Toyota RAV4 and Prius V use Softex's new artificial leather, and its good cooling performance is used for the surface material of car seats. Compared with the leather material, the perforation or the suture process is very similar even on the touch. Except that this material cannot be used in parts that require large areas of foaming and granulation, other parts can be used instead of leather materials.

Softex is a thermoplastic polyurethane that features high air permeability and high heat dissipation. The reason why it has good heat dissipation is that this kind of material can reflect infrared rays in the air, which is its inherent property and has not been surface treated. In the test, Softex material is 10°C cooler than the surface temperature of other materials at the same ambient temperature. Softex materials of different colors have slight differences in thermal properties, but even dark materials with strong heat absorption properties have better heat dissipation than other artificial leather materials.

Fabrics and vinyl materials are still the most commonly used basic seat materials, especially on non-luxury vehicles. On the other hand, the vinyl material adheres to the seat back when the passenger sweats under hot and humid weather conditions. This is because vinyl is a nonporous material and it does not "breathe." In addition, vinyl materials will dry out when exposed to sunlight, and even leather materials that are exposed to sunlight for a long time will undergo subtle cracking, especially at pillow cushions.

Most of the newer artificial leathers have "breathing" function to a certain extent, but their degree is far from that of the dermis. However, Softex artificial leather material has a moisture absorption rate that is 15% slower than natural leather but releases faster, which makes the passenger's back feel more comfortable.

Although Softex materials release moisture from vinyl materials at a very fast rate, unlike vinyl materials, the former does not dry out due to sun exposure. In addition, Softrex material performs better than natural leather in fatigue, wear, and scratch testing of welds compared to natural leather materials. In addition, Softex material passed Toyota's durability test.

In terms of tensile strength, Softex materials are slightly inferior to natural leather and may be limited in surface trimming and sewing patterns. In absorbing dust particles, Softex is the same as other artificial leathers and is more convenient to clean than natural leather.

Toray Develops Automotive Interior Components Using Plant Fibers

Toray recently developed automotive interior parts made of PLA (polylactic acid) fiber "ECODEAR", a plant-derived material, and started production first in the world.

ECODEAR is a fiber made from corn. Polylactic acid is eventually decomposed into biodegradable fibers of carbon dioxide and water in a natural environment such as soil, and the calorie content is also low.

The company supplied the parts to Toyota's new "Raum" spare tire covers and carpets, which were released on May 12. The spare tire cover uses a hard plate made of a uniform blend of natural fibers, Kenaf, in a PLA fiber, and is subjected to a hot-pressing treatment, which is a 100% plant-derived product.

"In the future, we will add a product line of PLA fiber products for other automotive interior parts such as doors, rims, seats, ceiling materials, and Line Mat, etc. to the development of automotive-related components that need to reduce the burden on the environment."

HEXPOL Develops Dryflex AM Thermoplastic Car Mat Materials

HEXPOL's Elasto Business Unit has recently developed a series of thermoplastic elastomers (TPES) materials that are mainly used in car mats.

Dryflex AM is based on elastomer (SBS) and Thermoplastic Elastomer (SEBS). It combines the wear resistance of rubber with the processability of plastics. It uses the Shore hardness measurement method to push standard presses into standard under standard conditions. The surface of the specimen was examined for its penetration depth to measure the hardness of the specimen. The result was a Shore A hardness of 50-75.

Dryflex AM's range of applications includes automotive floor mats, coin pads, and interior materials. Car mat materials need to have high abrasion resistance and scratch resistance, in addition to good slip resistance, especially in wet environments. Dryflex AM has a high coefficient of friction on the surface to meet the anti-slip requirements.

With the fuel efficiency and carbon emissions regulations established by governments around the world, automakers are looking for ways to further reduce vehicle weight. Thermoplastic elastomer material car mats are much lighter than conventional car mat materials. In addition, unlike other footbed materials, Dryflex AM material contains only minimal irritating odors, does not require vulcanization, and the material can be 100% recycled. These qualities simplify production costs and increase efficiency.

Henkel Introduces New Silicone Conductive Adhesives for Automotive Electronics to Improve Temperature and Shock Resistance
As the structure and working environment of automotive electrical systems become increasingly complex, the performance of related materials must also be correspondingly improved. Automotive sensor materials need to have a stronger shock resistance and temperature resistance. Henkel has recently developed a new silicone conductive adhesive (ECA) that can handle complex and harsh system environments. ICP 4000 series conductive adhesive can withstand 200 °C high temperature, in addition can withstand strong vibration.

Conductive adhesive is a kind of adhesive that has certain conductive properties after curing or drying. It is usually composed of matrix resin and conductive filler, that is, conductive particles. Through the bonding of matrix resin, the conductive particles are combined together to form the conductive. Passages to achieve the conductive connection of the adhered material. Since the base resin of the conductive adhesive is an adhesive, it is possible to select an appropriate curing temperature for bonding, and at the same time, due to the miniaturization, miniaturization of electronic components, and the rapid development of high-density and high-integration of printed circuit boards, The conductive paste can be made into a paste to achieve high line resolution. Conventional conductive adhesives use epoxy materials for specific sensors. As technology advances, there are more and more sources of heat and vibration in electrical systems, and traditional materials can no longer meet these requirements.

ICP 4000 Silicone Conductive Adhesive After 3,000 hours of testing at a temperature of 175°C, humidity of 85%, and 3000 thermal shocks of -40°C to 175°C, its performance in single cycle or long-term operation All are good.

All types of automotive electronics manufacturers have different production and application requirements. The resistance, adhesion, thermal conductivity, and flexibility of ICP4000 conductive adhesives in a high-temperature, high-vibration environment can meet normal work requirements. The conductive filler of the conductive paste is filled with silver, and the matrix resin is a thermally curable silicone resin. It has better flexibility than traditional epoxy materials and can automatically compensate for mismatches in thermal expansion coefficients, so it can still operate normally under extreme high vibration conditions. In addition, the stimulating gas and residual colloids released during the curing process of the ICP4000 conductive adhesive are very small and will not affect the normal operation of the surrounding sensors.

Kumho Ritz-CarbonTM Ultra-Low VOC Material for Automotive Interiors Ensures that the non-compliance of air quality in the interior of fresh air in cars is largely due to the failure of interior materials, and Kumho Japan The development of an ultra-low VOC material, VOC, in vehicles, has been developed. It can not only meet the performance requirements of weather resistance, heat resistance, and impact resistance of automotive interiors, but also effectively control organic The formation and precipitation of volatiles, the biggest bright spot is ultra-low sporadic.

Kumho Reli is backed by the powerful polymerization technology background of Kumho Petrochemical and Nissho Petrochemical Co., Ltd., the parent company of Sino-Korea, effectively reducing the precipitation of residual monomers and low-molecular-weight oligomers during the polymerization of raw materials and relying on more than 10 years of modification experience. , The international R&D team integrated with polymerization, reactive extrusion and equipment technology has set up a special R&D team with a total investment of more than 15 million yuan. It took 3 years and successfully created the world-leading PSS technology through polymerization, extraction, and post-processing. Purification and other complex links effectively reduce the VOC content in the vehicle. According to the data from the third-party test report, the sporadic performance of plastic-clear TMABS can reach the level of TVOC<18μgC/g, and the sporadicity of plastic-degradable TMPC/ABS can reach the level of TVOC<15μgC/g, compared with the current market. The spoilage of mainstream interior materials is reduced by 60%, which is far below the control standards of the OEMs, and is far lower than the current tightest control standards for TVOC < 30μgC/g of Volvo Cars.

The ultra-low VOC plastic nectar TM series really improves the air quality in the car from the source, giving consumers a healthy and safe driving environment.

Adhesive selection

In addition to materials, the choice of material adhesives also plays a crucial role in the quality of air in the vehicle. Most automotive interiors use artificial leather, polyurethane foam, plastic wallpaper, latex sponges, artificial carpets, cloth, velvet, and wood to increase the interior look. For example, ceilings, carpets, door panels, dashboards, etc.

At present, most automotive interiors in China still use flammable, toxic, and environmentally friendly solvent-based adhesives, such as neoprene adhesives. Solvent-based adhesives not only cause serious waste of resources, cause serious environmental pollution, but also pose a great threat to the health of construction workers. Cars decorated with solvent-based adhesives release solvents slowly over a long period of time, causing injury to drivers and drivers and affecting the quality of automobiles. Water-based adhesives, because they use water as a solvent and do not contain toxic solvents, can even make volatile organics almost zero. Therefore, in the automotive industry in recent years, water-based adhesives are replacing conventional solvent-based adhesives and are starting to be used in automotive interiors and are growing rapidly. At present, the proportion of car roof lining water-based adhesives in the world has exceeded 1/3. Taking Japanese cars as an example, almost all automotive interior plastics are now water-based. Future annual growth of water-based polyurethane adhesives is estimated to remain at 8%-10%.

At present, the United States, Japan, and Western Europe are at the forefront in the development of water-based polyurethane adhesives for automotive interiors. The application and research of water-based polyurethane adhesives in China is still in its infancy. Although the research and development work is very active, but the application level is not high, there are not many manufacturers, and the varieties are single, the products are mostly low-grade products, and the performance is related to Bayer. There is still a big gap between other companies. In particular, all high-grade water-based polyurethane adhesives are all imported products, mainly from Bayer, Rohm and Haas, and DIC in Japan. The development and production of aqueous polyurethane adhesives in China's mainland are still in their infancy.