DuPont offers renewably sourced TPE for airbag covers

Düsseldorf, Germany - Joint development work between Takata-Petri of Aschaffenburg, Germany, and DuPont has resulted in the launch of a new grade of DuPont's Hytrel RS, the industry's first renewably sourced thermoplastic elastomer for use in airbag covers.

The material replicates the technical properties of the standard grade of Hytrel used for such applications, including consistent physical properties over a wide range of temperatures. It is derived from non-food biomass and contains a minimum of 35 percent renewable content by weight, thereby addressing auto manufacturers' needs for sustainable solutions, a 28 Oct press release from DuPont claimed.

Hytrel RS is based on a thermoplastic ether-ester elastomer (TPC-ET) with hard segments of polybutylene terephthalate and soft segments that contain a polyether derived from non-food biomass, the statement said.

For over 15 years, DuPont has supplied Takata-Petri, a leading manufacturer of innovative occupant safety systems, with petroleum-based Hytrel DYM polymers for use in the driver and passenger airbag covers for various OEMs, according to a 28 Oct statement from DuPont. As a reflection of this initiative, the two companies set out to develop a new grade of renewably-sourced Hytrel with comparable performance to Hytrel DYM in terms of low-temperature ductility combined with high stiffness and good long-term-aging performance, as well as ease of processing and good paintability.

Following confirmation from the project team at Takata-Petri that the airbag covers moulded from Hytrel RS fully complied with all of the company's technical requirements with regard to paint adhesion, long-term aging performance as well as low temperature ductility, and that the prototypes showed very similar behavior during use in the airbag system, the material was released for use in serial production at Takata-Petri.

In its finished, compounded form, as used in airbag cover systems, the material' renewablysourced content is at least 35 percent by weight. The development team at DuPont could demonstrate, based on an internal cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), that the Hytrel RS grade is superior in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as its use of renewable energy , when compared to a pertoleum-based TPC-ET.

To download full press release and image, click here.

http://www2.dupont.com/K2010/en_US/whats_new/K2010_PR/pp_airbag_en.html?src=vocus_airbag_101027_en