- 19 June 2007 -
TechnoFiber hits the road

German compounding specialist TechnoCompound has developed a tailor-made compound in its ‘TechnoFiber’ range for the door trim module of the new MINI. The compound is said to be distinguished by its high rigidity and extremely high impact strength, resulting in door components that will not splinter in the event of a vehicle colliding with the side of the car.

The door trim module is injection moulded in long glass fibre-reinforced polypropylene (PP) with a 10% w/w glass fibre content. For mass production, TechnoCompound is supplying the processor with a 50% w/w glass fibre concentrate and a pure PP compound. The two raw materials are mixed together to obtain the required glass fibre content prior to the injection moulding process. The module is produced using the back injection moulding process, in which a cut-to-shape decorative film is first inserted into the mould cavity before the closing of the mould and the injection of the melt.

The company is currently developing a compound with a 10% w/w glass fibre content that can be fed directly into the injection moulding machine. This will eliminate the need for the processor to mix a concentrate with an unreinforced PP beforehand and will result in a glass fibre distribution in the compound that is not dependent on the mixing performance of the screw in the injection moulding machine.

TechnoCompound; www.technocompound.com