Making foam suitable for thermoforming

German manufacturer BASF has made its innovations in the formulation and processing of Basotect to make it suitable for thermoforming.

The Basotect TG is the first thermoset foam that can be shaped under heat. The impregnating step that used to be indispensable for thermoforming this material is now gone, simplifying its processing. The first vehicle parts using Basotect have already gone into serial production.

Unlike thermoplastics, thermoset materials such as Basotect cannot be shaped or melted under heat. This is why until now, Basotect had to be impregnated with adhesives, pressed and then dried in order to form complex, three-dimensional automotive parts. This costly impregnation step is a thing of the past for the new Basotect TG; now it can be directly compression-moulded under the usual processing conditions, so that making moulded parts is easier and more efficient.

Calculations have shown that production costs can be cut by as much as 20 percent, depending on the throughput rate. This foam is of interest not only in automotive construction but also in other industries that make use of compression-moulding methods for shaping. Basotect's familiar properties have been retained in the TG variant: this foam on the basis of melamine resin is lightweight (approximately 9 kg/m³) and flame-resistant, it can be employed at temperatures of up to 200°C and displays an extraordinary sound-absorption capacity. In tune with the requirements of the automotive industry, it is offered in the colour grey.

The material lends itself for acoustic insulation in automobiles wherever high continuous working temperatures prevail, such as in covers for engine hoods, partition walls between the engine and the passenger compartments, transmission tunnels as well as in engine proximity shells.

BASF has bundled a product line of specialty plastics comprising high-performance styrene plastics, biodegradable materials and foams under the umbrella of PlasticsPlus.