Asahi Kasei introduces new engineered resin series

Asahi Kasei Plas­tics North Amer­i­ca (APNA) intro­duces SoFormTM, a new engi­neered resin series as part of their diverse Thermy­lene® fam­i­ly – Asahi Kasei’s port­fo­lio of spe­cial­ty chem­i­cal­ly cou­pled glass fiber rein­forced polypropyl-enes. SoFormTM is a cost- and process-opti­mized mate­r­i­al for auto­mo­tive inte­ri­or sur-faces and indus­tri­al durable goods.

SoFormTM fea­tures excel­lent scratch resis­tance with hap­tic sur­face feel and improved dura­bil­i­ty com­pared to com­peti­tors. It also offers key ben­e­fits such as low gloss, low emis­sions, chem­i­cal re-sis­tance, and struc­tur­al per­for­mance. “Dura­bil­i­ty cou­pled with low gloss and improved hap­tic sur­face feel are key to inte­ri­or per­for­mance and cus­tomer end use cri­te­ria now more than ever; SoFormTM pro­vides an attrac­tive solu­tion to meet these demand­ing require­ments” states Jane Horal, Mar­ket­ing and Busi­ness Devel­op­ment Man­ag­er at APNA. The mate­r­i­al is avail­able in 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% glass fiber filled grades. All are com­mer­cial-ized and avail­able in either nat­ur­al or pre-col­ored for injec­tion molding.

Auto­mo­tive appli­ca­tion areas for these nov­el grades include, but are not lim­it­ed to, instru­ment pan­els, door pan­els and asso­ci­at­ed touch points (map pock­ets, con­sole sides, mir­ror sur­rounds and seat trim). SoFormTM also excels in the indus­tri­al seg­ment with appli­ca­tions such as fur­ni­ture arm­rests and durable wear sur­faces. The dura­bil­i­ty and hap­tic sur­face fin­ish enable both auto­mo­tive and indus­tri­al seg­ments to pro­vide cus­tomers with improved longevi­ty and luxury.

“SoFormTM has unique per­for­mance com­pared to tra­di­tion­al talc rein­forced ther­mo­plas­tic elas­tomers due to the increased scratch and mar prop­er­ties” says Todd Glo­gov­sky, VP of Sales and Tech­nol­o­gy at APNA. “For appli­ca­tions that have high­er dura­bil­i­ty require­ments, SoForm will be a key product”.

Cur­rent­ly, soft touch paint, over-mold­ing or a foam in place with skin has been required to meet these cus­tomer demands. SoFormTM is an alter­na­tive to improve the design, man­u­fac­ture, logis­tics and val­ue chain of the pro­duc­tion process. As the mate­r­i­al elim­i­nates the needs to paint, over-mold or foam in place, it can pro­vide addi­tion­al cost-sav­ings and eco-friend­ly options for the manufacturer.