A carlight consists of up to 200 individual parts that have to withstand vibrations and other impacts during driving, high and low temperatures evolving from the environment and during operation as well as chemicals in cleaning agents. This is precisely why the choice of material is particularly important here. In addition, legally compliant light distribution must be guaranteed at all times, even as the carlight undergoes aging processes. Another key problem in carlight construction is the "outgassing" of materials under certain conditions, causing fogging residues on optical or critical visual components. Until now, only virgin materials have been able to meet these requirements. However, in order to comply with the EU Green Deal, car manufacturers are required to use more alternative, sustainable materials and construction methods: bio-based, recycled and recyclable.
In search of the perfect material for the closed cycle of carlights
The project team around ZKW Lichtsysteme (project management), JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, MATERIALS - Institute for Surface Technologies and Photonics, Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH and two of our Institutes of Chemistry of Polymeric Materials and Polymer Processing at Montanuniversität Leoben aims to develop new sustainable materials and processes for carlight construction. The focus here is on conventional composite materials and bio-based polymers that not only ensure long-term durability, but in the best case are already made from recycled materials.
Research at the Department of Polymer Engineering and Science focuses primarily on material selection and characterization as well as on evaluating the processability of the selected materials by injection molding. On a laboratory scale, the selected polymers are first examined for their outgassing and ageing behavior at the Institute of Chemistry of Polymeric Materials. The use of a suitable material or the addition of special fillers is intended to prevent outgassing. In a further step, the Institute of Polymer Processing produces compounds from promising recycled polymers or biopolymers together with special fillers, which are then processed into test specimens by injection Molding. This is followed by rheological and thermodynamic tests as well as simulations to evaluate functionality and recyclability.
Projectname: SusMat4CarLight - Nachhaltige, rezyklierbare Werkstoffverbunde für zukünftige Autoscheinwerfer
Funding: FFG - Produktion der Zukunft
Projectpartner: ZKW Lichtsysteme GmbH, JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH
Contact:
Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Christine Bandl
christine.bandl(at)unileoben.ac.at
+43 3842 402 – 2306
