Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) Lighting business benefits from increased design freedom and lower overall production costs by using Xantar® polycarbonate (PC) and Akulon® polyamide 6 (PA6) from DSM Engineering Plastics for Philips’ new Urbana decorative urban luminaire product.

Aesthetic components, including the housing and lens, are made of Xantar resin. Structural components, including the pole mount and internal electrical box, are made of Akulon resin. During development, Philips designers tapped DSM expertise in resins, moulding and thermoplastics engineering to optimise the luminaire and reduce its costs.

“In the final analysis, we based our choice of DSM materials on a combination of mechanical and technical performance, plus overall cost,” said Lukasz Stefaniak, senior buyer, Philips Lighting. “The full luminaire is heavy, so we needed strength in the areas involved in supporting it. Resistance to heat was important because the ballast and electrical components are housed close together and become quite warm. As the design evolved, DSM provided us with a number of candidate materials. Overall, our working relationship with DSM has proven to be beneficial to both sides—at this point, our businesses are quite aligned.”

“The Urbana project shows the benefits of technical cooperation during development,” said Francis van Vehmendahl, DSM Lighting Segment Development Manager. “Together Philips and DSM were able to optimise product and tooling designs in exploiting the versatility of Xantar and the strength of Akulon.”

Produced in nine interchangeable, decorative models, Urbana achieves up-to-the-minute looks with a variety of striking styles featuring built-in reflectors and smooth transitions from the pole to the lamp bowl. The Urbana luminaire’s primary applications include station yards, parks, business centres, residential areas, shopping centres and footpaths.

The various Xantar-based lens/reflector assembly designs, which include clear, opal, and prismatic lenses to provide buyers with a choice of lighting effects, are engineered for long life without cracking, yellowing or fogging in urban environments.

The paintability of Xantar also contributes, with both white and black painted parts in the light path for control, preventing upward light pollution and reflecting light down.

Akulon offered aesthetic freedom and reduced costs for the mount, which are traditionally made of metals. The Akulon pole mount and housing are designed to withstand the loads and temperatures experienced by the luminaire. In addition, the non-conductive Akulon is ideal for containment of electrical elements. Beside the electrical conductivity of metal and its tendency to corrode, metal is especially costly to form into the smooth transitional shape of the Urbana mount.

About Xantar PC Resin

Xantar polycarbonate is widely used as an engineering thermoplastic. DSM Engineering Plastics has been producing polycarbonate products for more than 15 years. Xantar products are used in automotive, electrical/electronics, consumer, and packaging applications worldwide. Polycarbonate continues to be one of the fastest growing engineering plastics, with a continued growth of applications where it can improve performance, replace traditional materials and add value.

Xantar is available in standard grades with high clarity and paintability, as well as grades that include glass fibre reinforcement for stiffness and stability, flame retardancy, and stress crack resistance. Xantar is also available as a structural foam. Xantar C blends PC and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) for increased impact resistance.

About Akulon

Akulon polyamide has an excellent combination of properties, including high stiffness and strength, toughness, excellent heat ageing properties, chemical resistance and excellent surface appearance.

In addition to UltraFlow grades with 50% better flow than regular materials, DSM Akulon PA6 formulations include neat; high stiffness (30-40% glass and mineral reinforcement); higher stiffness (>50% glass); high-burst, impact-modified for splinter-free performance as low as

-33 °C; ultraviolet (UV)-stable; and blow mouldable grades. Akulon is also available in film and laser-markable grades.

Typical Akulon applications include under-bonnet automotive components and assemblies including air cleaners, intake manifolds and engine covers; automotive appearance items such as door handles; electrical components such as connectors, junction boxes, and terminal blocks; power tool and lawn and garden enclosures and housings; a wide variety of sports equipment, including ski bindings and inline skates; and a broad range of appliance and building and construction applications.