Automotive Design & Production is the one media brand invested in delivering your message in print, online, via email, and in-person to the right automotive industry professionals at the right time.
Issue link: https://adp.epubxp.com/i/111486
AD&P; > March 2013 > FEATURE > DuPont���s Approach to Bio-based Plastics > Gary S. Vasilash > ��� Hutchinson SRL of Rivoli, Italy, uses a bio-based material to produce monolayer diesel fuel lines for Fiat. While biodiesel can necessitate the use of fuel lines with a ���uoropolymer coating on the inside, this PA1010 Zytel RS grade has the necessary chemical resistance and thermal properties such that it is used without the coating. Said another way: a biomaterial facilitates the use of another biomaterial. ���DuPont���s long-term goal is to switch the majority of our polymers to bio-based.��� ��� ��� ��� ��� ��� But if we go back to that initial thought about whether there is ���a little ���green��� sprinkled in,��� the question comes up: Just what does Bell mean by ���bio-based���? Turns out they are quite serious about this. They do life-cycle analyses of ��� ��� ��� ��� ��� There is an automotive plastic that they have that is 100% bio-based, polyamide (PA) 1010. This material (the DuPont trade name is Zytel RS), a nylon, uses castor beans as its feedstock. Bell says that castor plants grow wild on mountain sides in places like India and Asia. They require no irrigation. No fertilizer. They don���t compete with food sources. ���DuPont���s overall approach is to improve sustainability not only within DuPont��� reducing the materials going to land���lls and what comes out of our smokestacks; decreasing our dependence on petroleum���but we also make products that help our customers improve their sustainability.��� the materials, looking at the entire manufacturing process. ���If it involves corn, they we look at the planting of the seeds, the water usage, the gas required for transport . . . all aspects of the process.��� And they use the terms ���bio-based��� and ���renewably sourced��� interchangeably. They don���t describe materials that have less than 20% of their content from renewable sources with either of those terms. 36 Oil (yes, the stuf that you may have had to swallow as a child) is converted into sebacic acid, which is used to make the PA10 monomer. (There is a PA610 Zytel RS material, which is approximately 60% bio-based, as it uses a PA6 monomer that is derived from a petroleum source.) While Sorona can be used to make end customer-facing products like the HVAC vents and carpet, the Zytel RS is typically used to produce things that are found under the hood, like fuel lines. One interesting bio-intensive application is a fuel line produced for several Fiat diesel products including the 500 and Panda, Lancia Delta, and Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The fuel line had to be suitable for use with biodiesel. Bell says that ordinarily, a PA12 is used to produce diesel fuel lines, but a monolayer construction isn���t idea for biodiesel exposure. So what some companies do is to co-extrude a thin layer of ���uoropolymer on the inside of the PA12 tube. Again, an additional operation. The supplier to Fiat, Hutchinson SRL (hutchinsonworldwide.com) opted to use a Zytel RS grade based on PA1010, which is more than 60% bio-based by weight, as it can be used to produce a monotube with the high temperature resistance needed for the biodiesel application. ��� ��� ��� ��� ��� ���Car companies, given a choice, will use a bio-based material,��� Bell says. But the choice is predicated not wholly on ���greenness,��� but on competitiveness: cost competitive, functionally competitive. Which brings us back to the start: The materials are equal to or better than what have been ordinarily used. They are not only better from the environmental standpoint���and with a minimum of a 20% sustainably sourced content, there is more than a ���sprinkle of green������but they can produce parts that can have superior ���nish and performance compared with their petroleum-based competitors. So you might think diferently.