Arnite®: A bright future for automotive
The automotive industry is juggling various challenges right now: The need to continue improving the safety of drivers and passengers; the drive for a reduced carbon footprint, which means improved vehicle fuel efficiency and reduction of harmful emissions; and of course the need to drive profitability – for example by reducing system costs, improving cycle time and giving engineers more flexibility.
Arnite® helps manufacturers to achieve automotive challenges. It is very easy to mold and process while being strong, rigid, with low moisture absorption and high dimensional stability. But these are only some of its qualities…
Automotive lighting
Without doubt one of the biggest challenges facing automotive lighting designers is outgassing.
When designing lighting modules, the material must have minimal moisture absorption to avoid the lens fogging up; and excellent dimensional stability to enable headlamps to move freely and securely. And of course the material also needs to be heat resistant.
We’ve been tackling this key issue, first through Arnite PBT, and recently we extended our knowhow to other components, with our low outgassing Arnite PET XL material for AFL/DBL frames. In fact, it's now being used for the adaptive forward modules (smart headlights) in well-known upper segment cars.
The future
Arnite is now being used in other various automotive applications, from windscreen wiper housings to air flow mass meters, EGR/ETC covers, mirror housings, bezels and many more.
We believe this is just the beginning. The DSM team is committed to the automotive market and will continue to keep finding new ways for manufacturers to improve their vehicles using Arnite.
