Search Results

As the automotive interior life span targets the 10 year durability benchmark, and post consumer recycling continues to be a critical environmental concern, the use of dissimilar materials has become increasingly challenging. Different initial and long term color effects, and the introduction of passive restraint's changes to energy management options has raised the interior requirements benchmark. With the multiple process capability and diverse physical property characteristics of vinyl, interior skins/substrates and support structures made from vinyl can reach longer term cost, performance, and environmental goals.

In recent years, trends towards monochromatic styling have increased the use of body side moldings matched to panel paint colors. These moldings can be painted to match, but are increasingly using pigmented flexible poly (vinyl chloride) to improve durability and reduce part cost. Even complicated “special effect” colors like metallics and pearlescents are now matched in pigmented vinyl. However, after several winters in severe climates like the Great Lakes region, some white moldings were observed to be noticeably yellowed. Since white is the most popular choice of car buyers, this is particularly troubling. The effect proved to be difficult to consistently reproduce in laboratory experiments.