On November 5th, Crerax attended the 10th Edition CPRJ Plastics in Automotive Conference & Showcase in Shanghai and was proud to share our experience and expertise in lightweight innovation for automobiles. Crerax has been known as the quickly rising new high-tech enterprise leading in the field of new polymer materials. Our expandable microspheres and their various applications contribute greatly to the major leap forward that the automobile industry as a whole is able to take.
The theme of the conference was Reduce Costs and Increase Efficiency, Move towards the “New Four Modernizations”. One of the main stumbling blocks in the development of automobile industry has been the difficulty in finding ways to make automobiles cheaper to produce and run more efficiently, and the need for the industry today to seek lightweight solutions stands out on its own.
According to statistics, for every 1% reduction in car weights, the fuel efficiency can be increased by 0.7% and carbon emissions reduced by 0.3%-0.5%. Crerax expandable microspheres drive lightweighting in automobiles to a new level where the benefits of energy-saving, emission reduction and fun-to-drive can all come together.
Crerax expandable microspheres are used as new material additives that can be applied in many fields to enhance material properties. Each microsphere comprises a thermoplastic shell encapsulating hydrocarbon, resembling a balloon that is also ultra-light. Once heated, the shell expands 80- to 100-fold in volume and the density of each microsphere drops below 30 kg/m3 (0.03 g/cm3). More specifically, Crerax microspheres can be used as a foaming agent, lightweight filler, or modifier for plastics, rubbers and more.
When it comes to automobile industry, Crerax expandable microspheres are applicable for plastics (PP、PA、PC、POM、PET, ABS, polyurethane/PU etc.), chloroprene rubber (CR), organosilicons and more that are essential for car production to achieve lower density, lower permittivity and prevent shrinkage & de-shaping. Today, Crerax microspheres are extensively used to reduce weight of plastic articles for automobiles such as doors, dashboards, headliner, as well as EPDM/TPV sealing strips, expanded damping glue, underbody coatings, body fillers, interior decorations and many other auto parts.
When compared with chemical foaming agents and supercritical CO2, Crerax expandable microspheres can be applied more easily, are much less demanding regarding the equipment needed to process and cause very little impact on mechanical properties of the materials. Materials in which Crerax microspheres are incorporated turn out to not only be of lighter weights, but of much longer service life.
For many years Crerax has been focusing on the R&D of new polymer materials and the end products that come together to form Crerax’s innovative “ecosystem”. Crerax’s products and customized solutions bring lightweighting to more than 120 fields such as architecture, automobiles, aerospace, and textile printing and ultimately upgrade people’s daily lives.
