Research and Markets: Plastics in Automotive Construction Report - Overview of the Technical Development Highlights and Trends

DUBLIN--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Plastics in Automotive Construction - 1st Edition" report to their offering.

The use of plastic system solutions has taken on an increasingly significant role in the automotive industry in the last few years. Used increasingly in the body & exterior, interior & trim, glazing and even under the hood, plastics offer forming and processing advantages, weight saving opportunities, economies as well as many other benefits.

Background to this study

This report provides you with an overview of the technical development highlights and trends, the ever-evolving characteristics of the various types of plastics, their applications and their increasing prevalence over other materials in car manufacture. It benefits from a thorough and extensive original research exercise, which included the author interviewing and documenting the opinions of a number of senior executives in the sector. Also covered are company profiles of the leading suppliers of plastics to the automotive industry such as BASF AG, Bayer Material Science AG, Borealis AG, B&W Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH, Akro-Plastic GmbH, Germann Kunststofftechnik GmbH and others.

For this specialist report, Kappler & Soulard was engaged. The principal author and expert on this report, Michael Kappler, was responsible for purchasing plastics for the VW Group over a period of ten years, before forming a consulting business with Delphine Soulard who had worked directly for Behr, the automotive supplier, and as a business consultant to the automotive industry in the fields of process optimization and costing.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

1. History

1.1. Weight and Price Development of Steel, Aluminium and Plastic, taking the Volkswagen Golf as an example

1.2. The Plastics Pyramid - the Ascendancy of Standard Plastics

1.3. Significance of the Automobile Sector as Plastics Consumer in Relationship to the Market as a Whole

2. Standards

2.1. Principal Plastics Materials and their Applications

2.2. Predatory Competition and the Consequences

2.3. Innovation - But How?

3. Trends

3.1. PA -> PET

3.2. Long Glass Fibre Materials: Chiefly PP and PA

3.3. Polyamides - the Response

3.4. Ray Cross-Linked Polyamides

3.5. Substitution of Metal by Plastics

3.6. PC Glazing

3.7. Recent Developments of Plastics and Product Characteristics

3.8. PP - New Developments

3.9. Injection-Moulded Materials for Online Painting

3.10. New Blends for Vehicle Interiors: Competition for PC/ABS?

3.11. Fillers: Magnetite

3.12. Influence of a Modern Development Service Provider on the Use of Plastics in the Automobile

3.13. Inspections for Their Own Sake - Is Every Inspection Really Necessary?

Conclusion and Future Prospects

Glossary

Company Profiles

Interviews and Opinions

• Leander Bergmann Marketing Manager, AKRO-PLASTIC GmbH
• Dr. Frank Eisenträger Application Product Development, INEOS ABS (Spain), S.L.
• Uwe Ruster Organic Materials Polymers, Adam Opel GmbH
• Volkhard Krause Vice President Automotive Glazing, Bayer MaterialScience AG
• Bernhard Scheuermann Managing Director, German Kunststofftechnik GmbH
• Joerg Schnorr Applications Engineering Automotive Interior/Exterior, BASF AG
• Dieter Voss Managing Director, TechnoCompound GmbH
• Dr. Eckhard Wenz Head of Bus. Dev. and Bus. Support, Bayer MaterialScience AG
• Jürgen Wiemann Marketing Manager, B&W Fahrzeugentwicklung GmbH
• Dr. Anton Wolf Head of Predevelopment, WOCO Company Group
• Franz Zängerl Manager of Marketing & Development, Borealis AG
• Ralf Zimnol Head of Application Development SCP, LANXESS Deutschland GmbH

Companies Mentioned:

• AKRO - PLASTIC
• BASF
• Bayer MaterialScience
• Borealis
• Dow Chemical
• DuPont
• INEOS
• Lanxess
• SABIC Innovative Plastics
• TechnoCompound