About 60 individuals representing automotive industries and educational institutions, including Toyota Motor Corporation, Magna, General Motors Corporation, Johnson Controls, Inc., A.Schulman, Inc., Faurecia, Tesla Motors, Inc., International Automotive Components, MSU Composite Vehicle Center and Kettering will participate in an event in Kettering’s Campus Center.
The Acrodur features: non-flammable zero-emission systems which contain no volatile or hazardous components at any stage of their life cycle; easy to use in molding processes and ideally suited for today’s greener light-weight automotive composites; potential for natural fiber, as well as, other fiber composites in automotive applications.
Gero Nordmann, market development manager for BASF, and Donald Rosato, president of PlastiSource, Inc., both said they are pleased to be coming to Flint to introduce eco-friendly Acrodur. Acrylic thermosets are thermally cross-linkable and free of formaldehyde and other emissions and offer new routes to innovative composite materials.
An example of a suitable application for acrylic resin dispersions is the binding of natural fibers such as wood, flax, hemp or sisal. Typically, the application is used in the production of shaped panels for automobile interiors. Now, raw materials can be resinated in different ways. It will provide a variety of other natural and man-made fibers of the nonwoven industry or even granulated materials, which can be bonded with the new binder system.
Kettering was selected for the new product introduction based on long-standing relationships within the industry with Kettering Chemistry Professor Reg Bell.
