Injection Moulding Asia

Lightweighting automotive parts

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In this development endeavour, Bekaert contributes its expertise in the manufacture of steel cord fabrics to the cooperation, while Voestalpine is responsible for the processing technology and part production in injection moulding. BASF, for its part, is continuing to develop its crash-optimised short or long fibre-reinforced polyamide specialities in the Ultramid product line for use in combination with the steel cord inserts.

The three companies will employ and further develop this new Energy Absorption, Safety and Integrity (EASI) technology with its partners in the automotive industry. The steel cord reinforcement employed in the EASI concept ensures that an injection moulded part retains its structural integrity. Thus, while EASI parts may be damaged in a crash, they are still able to absorb energy and lead it further into the structure.

In contrast to common reinforcements like continuous fibre-reinforced laminates or other carbon or glass fibre fabrics, the steel cord inserts ensure especially the integrity of the moulded part's function in a crash situation. This creates an entirely new performance class.

Since 2010, the three companies have been investigating steel cord reinforced injection moulded parts. The first production part using the predecessor technology was based on compression moulding with glass mat reinforced thermoplastics (GMT) - this received the AVK Innovation Award in 2008.