Cooper moves to moulding instead of extrusion for seals

ERJ staff report (DS)

Vitré, France -- Cooper Standard Automotive is gradually switching away from making seals by extrusion and assembly, towards injection moulding. The company has been developing systems using SEBS and polypropylene to replace assembled door and window seals made from EPDM and TPV.

In a development first shown at the K show last October, Cooper and machinery supplier Billion with mould supplier Jean-Pierre Grosfilley SAS has developed a multi-shot, multi-material moulding system for the manufacture of window lickers and door seals supplied to Peugeot for its 308 model. Peugeot selected Cooper's innovative soluton on the basis of better performance and better price.

The company hopes to move the development forward on other vehicles and with other clients based on the same paradigm of better performance at lower cost. The cost reduction is achieved by replacing metal armatures with polypropylene. This also offers advantages in terms of weight and recyclability and dimensional tolerances.