Stiff Foam Boards serve automotive and packaging applications.
Press Release Summary:
Produced at densities from 200–600 kg/m³ and in thicknesses from 1–5 mm, Alveocel LP F helps reduce weight in automotive and packaging industries. This version of closed-cell PP foam offers thermal insulation properties, is heat resistant up to 140°C, does not absorb water, and is 100% recyclable. Closed cell structure minimizes surface area for catching dirt, and cut edges are also closed celled. Material can be folded in any desired direction.
Original Press Release:
Sekisui Alveo Expands Its Product Range
Stiff foam boards with great potential for weight reduction in the automotive and packaging industries
Sekisui Alveo further expands its product range: With Alveocel LP F, the manufacturer of polyolefin foams now also offers stiff foam boards, which will be used mainly in the automotive branch and in the packaging industry. This version of the closed-cell PP foam is produced at a density of 200 to 600 kilogrammes per cubic metre. The stiff foam boards, from one to five millimetres thick, are 50 to 70 percent lighter than e.g. injection-moulded solid plastics used in comparable applications. Thus, the stiff foam is interesting as a lightweight solution for various industries. For instance, large-surface-area components such as coverings made of hard plastic can be replaced. Great potential also exists for sandwich components, in which the rigid foam can be used as an outer layer in composite assemblies.
Expanded range with great application potential. The new Alveocel LP F stiff boards expand the product portfolio of Sekisui Alveo: Until now, the foams have been used mostly for acoustical and thermal insulation, for enhancing comfort – key phrase: “pleasant surface feel” – or for effective sealing and cushioning. Besides wheel well liners, engine compartment liners and instrument panels on one side, and cap seals and attractive shock-proof packaging on the other, additional potential has now been opened for new application areas in the automotive and packaging industries. “We are currently working closely together with our customers to develop new applications”, explains Sandro Glanzmann, Application Development Manager at Sekisui Alveo.
Applications in the automotive industry. For passenger cars as well as trucks, Sekisui Alveo sees potential for replacing numerous hard plastic surface coverings with the stable foam boards, which are up to 70 percent lighter. This applies for example to wheel well liners, which shield the vehicle body from highway stone. Here, the robust, bending-resistant foam also wonderfully expands Sekisui Alveo’s current solutions for acoustical insulation. The same applies for engine compartment liners, which are subject to special heat resistance requirements. Also for surface coverings in vehicle interiors, e.g. in the trunk, use with an appropriate fabric or foil covering is possible. Sandro Glanzmann is especially enthusiastic about the possibility of using the material as a one-to-one replacement for solid PE and PP materials used to make deep-drawn or press moulded parts. Here, the material can fully show its strengths of weight reduction and high stiffness.
Lightweight yet very stable. In the packaging industry the stiff foam boards will be used in place of PE, PP or ABS hard plastics, for example in transport boxes and small load carriers. The polyolefin foam material also allows weight reduction of dividers – an important argument in view of increasing fuel costs in the transport branch and the requirements for reducing CO2 emissions. Another advantage over plastic hollow-chamber multi-wall sheets normally used for load carriers is much easier cleaning, because Alveocel LP F, with its closed cell structure, offers less surface area to catch dirt and the material does not absorb water. Cut edges are also closed celled, which prevents the penetration of moisture or liquids into the foam. The material can be folded in any desired direction; transverse or diagonal folds can be made without problem. This offers users of transport boxes significantly more versatile application potential in day-to-day use.
Sought-after material properties and processing possibilities. Alveocel LP F stiff foam boards offer more than relatively light weight and very high stiffness. They are also heat resistant up to 140 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, the hundred-percent recyclable material offers good thermal insulation. The foam boards made by Sekisui Alveo can be press moulded and vacuum formed, and the material serves well as a substrate for laminated coverings. When the material is machined, clean edges result, allowing conversion with precision.
“Our new product Alveocel LP F offers great potential for many applications in a wide variety of industries”, says Sandro Glanzmann. “Here we are not limited to individual areas – so we look forward to developing bespoke solutions in collaboration with our customers.” Sekisui Alveo produces the boards in the standard formats of 1200 x 1000 mm and 1200 x 2200 mm and can provide other sizes or rolls upon request.
Sekisui Alveo AG – Company profile
Sekisui Alveo AG with head office in Lucerne, Switzerland, develops and produces extruded and cross-linked polyolefin foams, which are used in: Adhesive Coating, Automotive, Construction including Artificial Turf as well as Industrial and Consumer Goods. The solutions are developed in close cooperation with processing companies and manufacturers, and tested and approved in the company’s Application Services Laboratory.
Sekisui Alveo was established in 1971 and today employs 500 people. Beside the head office in Lucerne (Switzerland) and the three production plants in Roermond (Netherlands), Bad Sobernheim (Germany) and Merthyr Tydfil (UK) the company has local offices throughout Europe and in South America. Sekisui Alveo is owned by Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd.
Media contact / Contact for more information:
Sekisui Alveo AG
Yvonne Wallimann
Corporate Communications
Bahnhofstrasse 7
CH – 6002 Lucerne
Tel.: +41 41 228 92 92
Tel.: +41 41 228 92 00
E-Mail: communications@SekisuiAlveo.com
Website: www.SekisuiAlveo.com
Karolin Friele-Brendel
PR-Beraterin (PZOK)
Blücherstr. 28
D – 65195 Wiesbaden
Tel.: +49 611 16 89 75-24
Fax: +49 611 16 89 75-25
E-Mail: SekisuiAlveo@web.de
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