Automotive New
Automotive New sustainable interior Eastman’s engineering bioplastic innovates for circular ec Automakers are increasingly looking for high-quality materials that do more than just enhance vehicle performance. The focus is set on sustainable, cost-effective solutions that meet consumer demand for more environmentally friendly products—and delivering on that promise NOW. Late last year, global specialty plastics provider Eastman (Kingsport, Tennessee, USA) announced its collaboration with NB Coatings (Lansing, Illinois, USA), a leader in paint on plastics for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), to create a new solution for interior Class A painted surfaces with Trēva engineering bioplastic. Trēva offers a viable option for companies interested in creating sustainable, cost-effective products. With the recent commercialization of its carbon renewal technology, Eastman produces Trēva with biobased and certified recycled content using mass balance allocation. When painted with NB Coatings paint systems, Trēva can meet the demanding Class A surface requirements as specified by OEMs. Cellulose-based Trēva Trēva engineering bioplastic is a mix of cellulose esters, the cellulose of which is derived from sustainably harvested trees. It offers both high performance and reduced environmental impact. Trēva is chemically resistant and dimensionally stable and has excellent flow, low birefringence, and low volatile organic components (VOC). In automotive applications, Trēva exhibits high performance and reduced environmental impact. “Trēva provides a biobased, sustainable alternative to polycarbonate, ABS and PC-ABS for interior automotive applications at a cost-neutral position,” said Chris Scarazzo, Eastman automotive market segment leader. “Eastman’s material innovations match what OEMs need to develop lasting parts with sustainable materials and help them achieve their goals for sustainable content and replacement of petroleumbased plastic.” Sourced from sustainably managed forests, Trēva has biobased content of 42 % to 46 %, certified by the USDA’s BioPreferred ® program. Carbon renewal technology To continue reducing waste and maximizing resources, Trēva also benefits from Eastman’s carbon renewal technology, a proprietary recycling process that provides an end-of-life solution for many plastics from a variety of sources, such as single-use plastics, textiles, and carpet, that traditional mechanical recycling methods cannot process. Such waste is typically sent to landfills or found as litter in waterways. Eastman expects to use up to 23,000 tonnes (50 million pounds) of waste plastic in carbon renewal technology operations in 2020, and projects are currently underway to significantly expand that amount. In carbon renewal technology, mixed waste plastic feedstocks are diverted from landfill and broken down to the molecular level to create building blocks, which are indistinguishable from those produced from feedstocks and used to manufacture Eastman products used in a wide variety of markets, including textiles,, cosmetics and personal care, and ophthalmics markets. With carbon renewal technology, waste plastics can be recycled an infinite number of times without losing quality. This means recycled materials will have more possible end uses. Trēva for automotive applications In automotive applications, Trēva exhibits high performance and reduced environmental impact. The optical and birefringence properties are better compared to polycarbonate. 14 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/20] Vol. 15
Automotive automotive plastic onomy via proprietary recycling technology Engineering tomorrow’s materials March 25 - 26, 2020, Mannheim Polycarbonates are often associated with poor birefringence, which causes a visible rainbow effect within the material that requires an expensive polarizing film to be applied to ensure proper clarity. Trēva mitigates the need to add a polarizing film since the material offers high birefringence when molded properly. With these optical properties in combination with its superior strength, the material is suitable for applications such as human machine interface (HMI) lenses. Trēva also withstands the challenges of automotive interiors, including high temperatures, humidity, UV, scratch/mar and general durability requirements. Trēva has lower VOC/fogging emissions compared to ABScontaining compounds, which is critical for interior parts. Its processing ease and excellent flow enable good dimensional stability and thin-wall designs for less material usage and lower weight. Eastman material properties are not identical to those of the mentioned incumbent resins but are within range and can bring greater or equivalent toughness, better environmental stress crack resistance, and better chemical resistance than PC- ABS and ABS, for example, and high sustainable content over other solutions. Traditional biopolymers and recycled-content materials often have poor performance Good reasons for PIAE • International industry meeting-point with 120 exhibitors • 30 hand-picked lectures • 10 interactive workshops • World Cafés: CO 2 -efficient use of plastics • Jobwall & Guided Tours • Auto show & Future Zone With Class A interior painted surfaces especially in mind, Eastman now collaborates with NB Coatings. “As an environmentally conscious coating provider, NB Coatings is excited to announce this paintability breakthrough in collaboration with Eastman,” said Jesse Fritcher, NB Coatings vice president of technical. “Our trials with Trēva found adhesion of our coating technologies to be comparable to, and in some cases better than, that achieved with traditional grades of PC- ABS, providing new sustainable options for automotive design engineers.” MT www.eastman.com | www.nbcoatings.com Table 1: Property comparison for the automotive market Needs Eastman Tréva TM engineering bioplastic Polycarbonate (PC) PC/ABS Toughness Chemical resistance Birefringence Volatile organic components (VOC)* Aesthetics (gloss) Cold impact Dimensional stability Sound damping Processability Temperature resistance Clarity N/A N/A Fair Good Better Excellent Sign up! www.piae-europe.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/20] Vol. 15 15
