MOSCOW (MRC) -- Collaboration between Clariant Masterbatches, polymer producer ExxonMobil, and Plastivaloire Group, a specialist in automobile interior design, has produced a huge new family of colors that can be expected to change the look of car interiors dramatically in the next few years, said the company.
The colors are being introduced during a special technical presentation on the ExxonMobil stand (Hall 10 / 10.1 ) at K 2019, the international plastics trade fair being held October 16 – 23 at Messe Dusseldorf in Germany. Presentations are scheduled for October 16, 17 and 22, at noon, 15:00 and noon, respectively.
Xavier Clement, Regional Sales and Project Manager – Automotive at Clariant, says the idea for the collaboration came during an automotive fair where he met Valerie Martin Maillet, a color expert for performance polyolefins (PP compounds) at ExxonMobil and Aurelie Nangniot, a designer from Plastivaloire. “We each recognized that vehicle design would be changing fundamentally in the coming years,” says Clement. “Especially given the trend toward shared cars or self-driving vehicles, drivers and passengers will want to decorate the interior of their car the same way they decorate their living rooms. We realized that, alone, we could not provide a real solution but, if we collaborate, we would be able to better serve car manufacturers and automotive designers."
ExxonMobil was already working on a new family of performance polyolefins. With 8% lower density than previous-generation materials, its Exxtral™ performance polyolefins are lightweight, an important factor in reducing CO2 emissions. They also provide better impact strength and flow characteristics so they can be molded in thinner section, and they are non-tacky as well as scratch and UV resistant. To be successful in the market, however, they also need to be easy to color for outstanding aesthetics. That’s when the other partners stepped in.
At Plastivaloire, Aurelie Nangniot, was creating a new, exciting spectrum of accent colors that would work in harmony in automotive interiors. She and the experts at Clariant developed a warm color palette based on natural materials like leather, copper, cork or wood, and a cool spectrum was inspired by fashion and interior design. Warm colors provide a human touch in response to the trend toward higher comfort standards in car interiors, while cool colors reflect the higher technology of multiple screens and connected devices that will characterize the autonomous cars of the future.
A total of 23 different hues were eventually selected and molded samples were assembled in a presentation box for easy evaluation.
As MRC informed earlier, Clariant announced that it has been awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The Dongguan plant will be one of the largest single-train dehydrogenation units in the world. Clariant's technology partner CB&I will base the plant's design on its Catofin® catalytic dehydrogenation technology, which uses Clariant's tailor-made Catofin catalyst and Heat Generating Material (HGM).
Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC