Clariant brings life to plastics and plastics to life with Hydrocerol®

• Hydrocerol® – a chemical foaming agent can help automakers reduce weight of plastic parts in cars
• Mass reduction is critical to achieving progressive fuel-economy standards and reducing vehicle emissions

Mumbai, May 25, 2015 – Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals showcased a paper on 'The CFA Route to Automotive Light-Weighting' at Plastomotive 2015, India's prime congregation for the Automotive Plastics Supply Chain. At the Conference held on May 7, 2015, Dr. Mahesh Dhekane, Senior Product Manager – BL Additives, BU Masterbatches, Clariant in India, presented an innovative and cutting edge technology for the automotive industry – Hydrocerol® chemical foaming agents (CFA).

The challenge of the automotive industry is to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions. Mass reduction is critical to achieving new, progressive, fuel-economy standards and reducing vehicle emissions. One of the ways to offer light-weight solution is polymer foaming through chemical foaming agents. Clariant's new, easy-to-use Hydrocerol CFAs help automakers cut the weight of many interior and exterior plastic parts of a car without adversely affecting the appearance or the performance.

Dr. Mahesh Dhekane emphasized on the latest technological solutions for the automotive world. He said, "The industry today needs players with innovative and sustainable solutions for light weight plastic parts for automobiles. Clariant has solutions that would benefit customers across the globe."

He provided a detailed overview on Thermoplastic Foam Injection Molding (TFIM) with core back expansion technology. Due to their numerous benefits, Hydrocerol range of endothermic foaming agents is chosen when it comes to foamed automotive plastic parts. Their specialty active ingredients provide fine cell foam structures, excellent mechanical properties and are environment friendly. The savings that result from improved processing characteristics are even more impressive. The processing cycles are shorter, which means increased machine and labor productivity.