Plastics in Automotive Construction Report

Publication Date	May 2009
Publisher	Supplier Business
Product Type	Report
Pages
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	SUB00096

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Summary

The use of plastic system solutions has taken on an increasingly significant role in the automotive industry in the last few years. Used increasingly in the body & exterior, interior & trim, glazing and even under the hood, plastics offer forming and processing advantages, weight saving opportunities, economies as well as many other benefits.

Background to this study

This report provides you with an overview of the technical development highlights and trends, the ever–evolving characteristics of the various types of plastics, their applications and their increasing prevalence over other materials in car manufacture. It benefits from a thorough and extensive original research exercise, which included the author interviewing and documenting the opinions of a number of senior executives in the sector. Also covered are company profiles of the leading suppliers of plastics to the automotive industry such as BASF AG, Bayer Material Science AG, Borealis AG, B&W Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH, Akro–Plastic GmbH, Germann Kunststofftechnik GmbH and others.

Content

Executive Summary

1. History
1.1. Weight and Price Development of Steel, Aluminium and Plastic, taking the Volkswagen Golf as an example
1.2. The Plastics Pyramid – the Ascendancy of Standard Plastics
1.3. Significance of the Automobile Sector as Plastics Consumer in Relationship to the Market as a Whole

2. Standards
2.1. Principal Plastics Materials and their Applications
2.2. Predatory Competition and the Consequences
2.3. Innovation – But How?

3. Trends
3.1. PA -> PET
3.2. Long Glass Fibre Materials: Chiefly PP and PA
3.3. Polyamides – the Response
3.4. Ray Cross-Linked Polyamides
3.5. Substitution of Metal by Plastics
3.6. PC Glazing
3.7. Recent Developments of Plastics and Product Characteristics
3.8. PP – New Developments
3.9. Injection-Moulded Materials for Online Painting
3.10. New Blends for Vehicle Interiors: Competition for PC/ABS?
3.11. Fillers: Magnetite
3.12. Influence of a Modern Development Service Provider on the Use of Plastics in the Automobile
3.13. Inspections for Their Own Sake – Is Every Inspection Really Necessary?

Conclusion and Future Prospects

Glossary

Company Profiles
AKRO – PLASTIC
BASF
Bayer MaterialScience
Borealis
Dow Chemical
DuPont
INEOS
Lanxess
SABIC Innovative Plastics
TechnoCompound

Interviews and Opinions
Leander Bergmann Marketing Manager, AKRO-PLASTIC GmbH
Dr. Frank Eisenträger Application Product Development, INEOS ABS (Spain), S.L.
Uwe Ruster Organic Materials Polymers, Adam Opel GmbH
Volkhard Krause Vice President Automotive Glazing, Bayer MaterialScience AG
Bernhard Scheuermann Managing Director, German Kunststofftechnik GmbH
Joerg Schnorr Applications Engineering Automotive Interior/Exterior, BASF AG
Dieter Voss Managing Director, TechnoCompound GmbH
Dr. Eckhard Wenz Head of Bus. Dev. and Bus. Support, Bayer MaterialScience AG
Jürgen Wiemann Marketing Manager, B&W Fahrzeugentwicklung GmbH
Dr. Anton Wolf Head of Predevelopment, WOCO Company Group
Franz Zängerl Manager of Marketing & Development, Borealis AG
Ralf Zimnol Head of Application Development SCP, LANXESS Deutschland GmbH

TABLES
Table 1: Weight and Price Development of Steel, Aluminium and Plastic, taking the Volkswagen Golf as an example
Table 2: Glossary

FIGURES
Figure 1: Projection of breakdown of plastics use in the nineties
Figure 2: Actual Breakdown of Plastics Use
Figure 3: Worldwide consumption of Plastics Materials, 2007
Figure 4: Plastics consumption, by sector in Western Europe and Central Europe