Knauf Automotive
Plastics properties
Plastics in the automotive industry: explore their properties
The gradual replacement of metal automotive parts with plastic components is primarily driven by the need to reduce the weight of vehicles and improve their performance. Expanded plastics have a lower density than most traditional materials, while providing increasingly better mechanical properties and durability.
Plastics properties
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Specialty foams for the automotive industry
The automotive industry holds specifically high quality and environmental requirements. Therefore, more and more innovative and specialized plastics are being sought that combine light weight with high strength.
Expanded polypropylene – EPP with enhanced fire resistance – is proving reliable in UL 94 fire tests, as it can withstand temperatures up to 140°C. In addition, we can supply specialty foams that are UV-resistant, with enhanced stress and shock resistance, and with antistatic properties (ESD). These materials perform well in applications such as car battery insulation and seat fillings.
Expanded polypropylene (EPP) – a versatile material for the automotive industry
Expanded polypropylene (EPP) has many applications in the automotive industry. Lightweight, energy-absorbing and moldable, EPP makes it possible to consolidate components, reduce assembly time and accommodate space and shape constraints in various vehicle layouts.
This highly versatile closed-cell foam provides a number of unique properties appreciated in the automotive industry, such as low weight, exceptional energy absorption, resistance to multiple impacts, thermal and acoustic insulation, water and chemical resistance, and 100% recyclability.
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) – lightweight and resistant packaging solutions
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a cellular material widely used in the automotive industry, including for packaging and cushioning components. EPS consists of 98% air and 2% polystyrene, making it an extremely lightweight, flexible and durable material.
Knauf experts are developing a range of cost-effective packaging and cushioning solutions made from expanded polystyrene for automotive customers. The material has excellent insulating and acoustic properties and may be re-used several times.
Renewable plastics – the new standard in the automotive industry
Until recently, the interior of premium cars stood out with exclusive leather, metal or wood finishes. Today, it is ecology that has become the benchmark of luxury. Higher-end vehicles are increasingly featuring elements made of fully renewable, sustainably produced materials. Such solutions are ceasing to be the exception and are becoming the norm, enforced by increasingly strict EU directives regarding recycling.
EPP foam fits perfectly into these trends. The material is 100% recyclable. Furthermore, thanks to modern 3D visualization techniques and the possibility of using colored granules or tactile textures, EPP automotive parts can achieve a fully personalized look. In addition, it is characterized not only by excellent shock and impact absorption properties, but also by effective thermal insulation for wiring and electronic components. Thanks to special additives, EPP can acquire resistance to high temperatures, as well as anti-static properties, making it useful, for example, for battery components in electric cars.
Knauf’s innovative material solutions
As a provider of foam and injection molding solutions for the automotive industry, Knauf is committed to a strategic and responsible approach to plastics processing and the wide range of plastic applications in vehicles. At the ID Lab Innovation Center, we are constantly developing new materials in line with the principles of a circular economy.
One example is NEOPS, our first certified foam material derived entirely from renewable resources. NEOPS provides an alternative to traditional fossil raw materials, with identical properties as its traditional counterparts while reducing the carbon footprint by at least 30%.
Sustainable use of expanded plastics in the automotive industry
As a plastics processing company, we aim to increase the share of recycled materials in the economy. We offer traditional plastics with a specified recycled content, such as rEPS 20% or rEPS 100%, as well as RELOOPP®, a material produced from post-consumer EPP waste that retains similar properties.
We assist our customers throughout the design and manufacturing process, providing transparent advice. We can design and order a wide range of automotive parts made from this material. We also encourage you to test them in your current and future projects.
EPP texturing – new aesthetics for the automotive industry
In addition to high technical performance, expanded plastics can also provide an attractive aesthetic solution. Designers at the Knauf Industries R&D Center have developed a proprietary palette of 36 textures in 4 lines, meeting the latest design trends.
Graphic shapes applied to the surface of EPP make this material an attractive alternative to traditional foam elements, which require additional decorative finishing. This gives designers new opportunities to shape the appearance of parts that are visible components of vehicles. A good example of projects in which EPP plastic textures find excellent applications are toolboxes placed in the luggage compartment of cars.
Learn more: EPP texturing
Knauf Automotive as manufacturer of automotive components
We specialize in the processing of plastics. We are a manufacturer of EPP and EPS car components and packagings, as well as injection molded products (PS, PP, PE, PC, ABS, PC/ABS). Our products are precisely tailored to the needs of car manufacturers. We develop EPP car seats, sun visors and battery packs, among others – all Knauf solutions are created using the latest technology, resulting in the best performance for automotive companies.