New Generation PP Developed for IPs, Bumpers
Canadian Plastics
Toyota Motor Corporation has developed what it is calling a "new generation" of compounded polypropylene materials for instrument panel and bumper applications. Toyota has been trying to find a more c...
Toyota Motor Corporation has developed what it is calling a “new generation” of compounded polypropylene materials for instrument panel and bumper applications. Toyota has been trying to find a more cost-effective alternative to The Super Olefin Polymer (TSOP), a grade of compounded polypropylene commercialized by the automotive company in 1991 as the standard material used in all of Toyota’s bumper and IP applications. TSOP, which is compounded with rubber and talc, has better performance properties, such flexural modulus, but higher costs, relative to reactor-made TPO.
Toyota calls its new material “High Elastomer-contained and High Crystalline PP” (HEHCPP). The company uses a more advanced PP polymerization process, developed since 1991, to manufacture polypropylene with high isotacticity. The process produces a flexible, highly-oriented crystalline structure that eliminates the need for large amounts of rubber, thus reducing material and compounding costs. The new material has equivalent performance to TSOP but about 30% lower cost, according to a group of Toyota researchers who presented a paper at this year’s SAE show in Detroit.
A reprint of the paper (ref. # 2003-01-0210) can be ordered by calling SAE at 724-776-4841.
