Sep 28, 2009 -
From Bottles to Car Parts: "Up-Cycled" PBT "Greens" Vehicle Interiors
One of the most interesting nominations for last October's SPE Automotive Innovation Awards competition in the Environmental Category was an application that used "up-cycled" PET resin from bottle scrap, which had been depolymerized, then repolymerized into PBT by resin-supplier SABIC Innovative Plastics and used by Summit Polymers Inc. to injection mold air-register vanes for ductwork on the interior of the joint '09MY Chrysler LLC/Volkswagen AG Routan® minivan. A special high-flow additive is used during compounding to increase flow length allowing thinner walled parts, which maximize effective open area in the vents, to be produced at lower injection pressures and also improving surface appearance for this 40% short-glass material called Valox® iQ8280SF resin.
