Here at the 22nd annual Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) Brasil Congress in Sao Paulo, SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business is highlighting its position of strength to help automakers take advantage of the highly promising Brazil market. The SAE event comes at a time when several automakers appear poised to invest and boost production in the country, the world’s fourth largest automotive market.

One of the programs spurring on growth of Brazil’s automotive industry is Inovar-Auto, which incentivizes automakers to qualify for significant tax discounts by meeting key requirements. Those include improving corporate average vehicle efficiency by 12 percent, conducting a certain number of manufacturing processes in the country and investing in R&D, engineering, industrial technology and supplier capacitation.

SABIC’s advanced automotive materials, local production and in-country engineering capabilities, backed by the company’s global network of application development and technology centers, offer automakers key sources of support to meet these program requirements and further their growth ambitions in this key automotive market.

“We are pleased to once again exhibit at the SAE Brasil Congress and discuss how we as an industry can respond to most pressing challenges and demands in front of us,” said Ricardo Knecht, general manager, South America, SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business.

“With this new drive to advance vehicle technology, we see a window opening for even greater collaboration across the value chain, and we are excited to marry our engineering expertise and know-how with the ingenuity of our customers to make the most of this opportunity.”

“Our best work is done when we are working directly with our customers to understand the challenges and design the solutions,” said Scott Fallon, senior director of automotive marketing for SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business.

“That is why we look forward to events like the SAE Brasil Congress. It is another opportunity for us to start that process of sharing knowledge and translating it into meaningful solutions, and this is what we are presenting here in Sao Paulo – a range of lightweight solutions that can help automakers make significant progress toward the vehicle efficiency targets set out in Inovar-Auto.”

New Windows of Opportunity

Among the many automotive applications SABIC is featuring at the SAE Brasil Congress are the stylish polycarbonate (PC) side windows of Volkswagen’s XL1 diesel plug-in hybrid. The XL1 is the most fuel-efficient production car in the world, with a European combined fuel consumption rating of 0.9 l/100 km.

To achieve this performance, Volkswagen optimized the XL1 for efficiency in all areas of its design and technology. This included producing the side windows through a two-shot injection-molded solution using SABIC’s EXATEC plasma coating technology on LEXAN PC resin and CYCOLOY PC/ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) resin.

These materials reduce the weight of the side windows by 33 percent vs. conventional glass solutions, while delivering a high quality optical appearance and scratch-resistant surface. SABIC provided full application development support to Volkswagen in the design, engineering and production of the side windows.

SABIC glazing solutions can enable weight reductions of up to 50 percent vs. comparable glass materials, depending on the complexity and design of the window part. In addition to a vehicle’s side windows, automakers can choose to apply PC glazing to rear and front quarter windows, roofs and spoilers – applications already demonstrated in production vehicles.

Back windshields (backlites) present significant opportunity to take full advantage of the many benefits made possible by PC glazing, including weight-out, greater freedom to design stylish, aerodynamic parts; and greater integration of functions.

Turning to the Future

A second cutting-edge application on display is an all-plastic steering wheel prototype based on SABIC’s LEXAN EXL resin, a high performance PC copolymer with excellent high and low temperature strength, stiffness and high impact properties. Using a thermoplastic injection molding process for this part can save up to 20 percent in weight and 10 to 20 percent in lower component costs.

Mass savings mean automakers have more packaging space for integration of electronic components and greater design freedom to explore unique shapes and innovative aesthetics. Compared to the traditional die-casting process, injection molding can avoid secondary operations and streamline production, while reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing process by up to 80 percent and 90 percent respectively.

Bumper-to-Bumper Solutions

Additional applications featured at SABIC’s SAE Brasil Congress stand include:

- A fender and fuel filler door molded from lightweight NORYL GTX resin. This material, when replacing metal, can save up to 50 percent in weight, while allowing for greater design and styling freedom. Fenders molded out of this material can be online painted along with the metal Body-In-White (BIW), avoiding the need for secondary operations and ensuring a perfect color match. This conductive resin does not require a primer step prior to painting.

- A front-end module molded out of STAMAX long glass fiber polypropylene, which offers weight savings, good thermal resistance and mechanical performance, as well as the ability to consolidate parts for streamlined assembly.

- Headlamp bezels and lighting components molded out of crystal clear, impact resistant LEXAN resin, one of the world’s leading material solutions for headlamp lens materials. The ULTEM resin is also highlighted for lighting applications because of its high heat properties and dimensional stability, properties which make the material an excellent candidate for advanced LED headlamp designs.

- Pedestrian energy absorbers based on XENOY IQ resin, an environmentally progressive material with a significant percentage of up-cycled post-consumer waste such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles. In addition to weight savings for improved fuel efficiency and fewer emissions, this material provides efficient energy-absorption countermeasures to meet pedestrian protection and low-speed vehicle damageability requirements.

SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business works collaboratively with customers from the earliest stages of the design process to ensure the optimum match between material attributes and application requirements for the best overall performance. Dedicated local teams in Brazil, connected to and supported by SABIC’s global innovation and technology network, are available to deliver development assistance and technical support.

SABIC provides customers in South America with fast and easy access to materials from its manufacturing facilities in Campinas, Brazil and Tortuguitas, Argentina.