Automotive & Transportation Stories

Sustainable Bonding Applications Inside Vehicles

Part I: Focus: Healthy Living

The automotive industry is undergoing a technological revolution. The future of the car will be marked by a combination of technological innovations, societal changes and environmental goals. Electric vehicles are gaining traction and self-driving cars are on the horizon. Digitalization plays a key role, demonstrated by the evolving design of automotive interiors. Safety and sustainable solutions are central aspects in the selection of materials, in production processes and in customers specifications. Another major trend focuses on the passenger: The expectations for a “mobile living room” are rising. In addition, there is there is a simple rule which always applies, regardless of a car’s power source: The lighter a vehicle is, the lower its energy consumption can be. In all of this, one thing remains constant: “Nothing is possible without adhesives.”

High-Quality Interiors

Adhesives play a key role in the manufacture and assembly of the interior parts in an automobile. Innovative adhesive solutions facilitate visually appealing interiors, resistant surfaces, and invisible and reliable connections. They join different carrier materials made of plastic (e.g. ABS, PP, PC/ABS) with a wide range of foams or spacer fabrics and decor materials, such as genuine leather, TPO and PVC foils, textiles, and nonwovens. Lightweight materials made of honeycomb polyurethane boards reinforced with fiberglass are laminated with carpets or decor foils. In addition, new materials based on renewable or recycled resources like natural fiber polypropylene are also entering the market. Adhesive must ensure a reliable bonding of all these materials.

Jowat supplies biobased PUR hot melt adhesives for the sustainable lamination of foam materials and spacer fabrics with different textiles or decor foils. For example Jowatherm^® GROW 631.20, which has a biobased raw material content of over 20 percent. The adhesive meets the requirements of ECO PASSPORT for the manufacturing of products certified in accordance with OEKO-TEX^® 100.

Low VOC and FOG Adhesives

New high-end materials, resistant surfaces and consumer-friendly customization options mean that the quality of the materials inside the car and how they are processed has become even more critical. One major aspect is the release of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and the content of condensable substances (FOG). The quality of the air inside the car is essential for the comfort and health of passengers.

Modern bonding technology goes beyond joining the most different materials. It also plays a big role in making vehicles lighter, which improves energy efficiency and thereby reduces emissions. So-called “low VOC and FOG adhesives” of Jowat are specially developed to improve the air quality inside of vehicles.

The benefits of low VOC and FOG adhesives in a nutshell:

Low VOC and FOG adhesives meet the strict requirements of automotive manufacturers
They enable manufacturers to significantly improve the air quality inside vehicles by reducing VOC and FOG emissions
High process reliability in production

Jowat supplies adhesives for interior and trunk components with very low VOC and FOG values. Apart from water-based Jowapur^® PU dispersions, these are primarily innovative reactive PUR hot melt adhesives and hazard pictogram–free reactive MR PUR hot melt adhesives of the Jowatherm^® family. Selected low VOC and FOG adhesives meet the requirements of a wide range of OEMs in terms of carbon emissions, FOG, odor and formaldehyde emissions (e.g. as specified in VW standard 50180). Jowapur^® 158.97, for example, is a low VOC and FOG adhesive used for the lamination of real leather and all thermoplastic foils established on the market. Its benefits are particularly pronounced in the lamination of real leather, where the possibility to thermally reactivate the adhesive with hot air blowers support manual processes to pre-position the sewn leather covers and facilitates several bonding and repositioning procedures.