www.abifor.com

Abifor^® hot-melt powder, ensures innovation and compatibility in the car industry

Cryogenic grinding machine for producing of abifor® hot-melt

Abifor Ltd is the leading company in developing, manufacturing and marketing of thermoplastic hot-melt powders, with headquarters in Switzerland and production plant in southern Germany. The subsidiary company in Shanghai (China), established in 2004, serves our customers in South East Asia with abifor^® powders produced in Europe as well as manufactured by our partner in China.

With more than 50 years experience, Abifor has developed the specific know-how to permit comprehensive system advice. With our abifor^® specialities we are successful in all important markets and sectors throughout the world. By systematic development of thermoplastic hot-melt powders and their applications we are able to continuously introduce innovation. The quality-oriented organisation ensures high-grade thermoplastic hot-melt powders for new applications. With DIN EN ISO 9001:2000, Abifor Ltd complies with international standards and guarantees constant high product quality, prompt delivery, process security and environmentally-compatible production.

Different laminates for technical applications with abifor® powder

The abifor^® product portfolio contains the following hot-melt powders: HDPE, LDPE, TPU, EVA, CoPA, CoPES, PP and Powder blends. The newest innovation of Abifor Ltd is Ecoflex^® Hot-Melt-Powder which is based on an aliphatic-aromatic Co-Polyester and fully decomposes within 5 to 6 months under certain environmental conditions as encountered in a compound. All necessary tests have been carried out and the respective certifications are available.

The advantage of laminating with abifor^® hot-melt powders is the systematic adaptation to various substrates, to single or multi-stage production processes with cut lengths or piece goods and the possibility of combining different polymers.

For technical applications in the car industry, base, intermediate and surface materials are laminated to composite materials with specific properties: dimensionally-stable or elastic, insulating against heat, sound or moisture, hard-wearing, easy-care, soft handle.

Typical applications for vehicles are: head liner, rear shelf, soft trim, floor carpet, trunk liner, engine compartment insulation, seat covering.

The main requirements for laminations in the car sector are the bond fail temperatures and good flame retard properties. But apart from the requirement for good adhesion the coating may also need other properties.

Gear tunnel sound absorber of BMW 1-series with abifor® hot-melt

• In case of compiled carpet part for a car, the carpet material is scatter coated with LDPE powder which is covered by a non-woven. This carpet material will be cut and moulded to the required form and the coating stiffens the carpet to “keep its shape”.
• For rear shelf construction either LDPE or HDPE powder is applied, following the requested bond fail temperature of the part.
• In specific applications like engine compartment insulation special powders are used. In most cases these hot-melt powders are customised blends which are developed together with the car part manufacturer. Powder blends may content different polymers and specific additives.
• Also the spectrum of exclusive leather goods in the automotive interior is becoming even more diversified and production requirements are more demanding. Easy-care, hardwearing surfaces for car seats combined with a soft handle require high-grade laminates.

The field of application in the automotive industry for lamination and bonding of two or more substrates is quite large and multi-faceted. In choosing the right hot-melt powder, the following factors need to be considered: adhesion properties of the powder grades, demand profile of the laminate and possible processing conditions (lamination line) which could be applied for the lamination.

Abifor’s experts have accumulated a lot of experience and can quickly perform small pre-tests with samples of substrates in their laboratory. Ask us and choose abifor^® hot-melt powders:

Abifor Ltd.
Luegislandstrasse 27
P.O. Box
CH-8051 Zurich / Switzerland

Phone: +41 44 325 25 95
Fax: +41 44 325 25 99
E-mail: sales@abifor.com
www.abifor.com

 

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