Polyurethane developments to enhance automotive suitability

An entire session of the UTECH Europe conference is dedicated to automotive developments with no less than nine papers out of the conference’s total of over 90. Conference delegates and exhibition visitors can also discover the latest products and solutions for manufacturing polyurethane-based automotive components in the UTECH Europe exhibition. Polyurethane-based products are suited for a wide range of automotive applications such as car seat cushioning, headrests, steering wheels, noise-suppressing carpets and air filters.

The Automotive market showcase session of the UTECH Europe conference is to be chaired by Mike Jeffs, a consultant for global bodies such as The World Bank who has worked at ICI and Huntsman Polyurethanes and was formerly director general of ISOPA.

Scheduled for the second day of the event, 15 April, the session will include the following papers: An Innovative Solution for the Production of PUR-based Carbon-reinforced Composite Parts for the Latest Hybrid Vehicles, delivered by a representative of Cannon Group; Sustainable Flame Retardant Developments for Low Emissions in the Flexible Polyurethane Foam Market, by Munjal Patel, Manager, Global Market Support, Polyurethanes, ICL-IP; Eco-friendly Catalyst System for Flexible Polyurethane Foams with Reduced Amine Emission and Foam Odour, by Takao Suzuki, Manager, Tosoh Corporation; And everything fits – New approaches to Seat Cushion Manufacturing, by Armin Daniel, Technical Director, PU machines, FRIMO Group; Evolution in Polyurethane Composites, by Alberto Fangareggi, Senior R&D Director, Dow; and Innovative stabilizers for Polyurethanes in automotive applications, by Cinzia Tartarini, Project Manager, BASF

More than 80 companies will be showcasing their latest offerings for the polyurethanes industry in the accompanying exhibition. Exhibitors showing innovations with automotive applications include Cannon, Huntsman, presenting a resin to enhance the manufacture of automotive carbon fibre composite panels, REPI, profiling its VOC/FOG‐free black and colour solutions as well as Green and the phthalate‐free lines, Tosoh, introducing RZETA, its emission-free reactive amine catalyst, allowing production of PU foams that do not emit VOCs or odour from amine chemicals, and DESMA, showcasing the use of solids in the automotive PU applications including Bariumsulfate or Aluminiumtrihydrate sound dampener and its expandable graphite flame retardant.