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Exatec® Technologies |
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Lexan* polycarbonate is a highly versatile material that offers unique properties for styling and design-driven challenges in today's highly competitive automotive market.
These unique properties push the limits that currently exist, because of the shape and complexity limitations of glass and they open up previously impossible glazing solutions for OEMs.
Styling departments of vehicle manufacturers can now consider different opening mechanisms for windows and doors, to name just a few. |
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Examples of the wide range of tints available in Lexan* Polycarbonate Glazing |
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SABIC Innovative plastics features Lexan* GLX polycarbonate – specially developed for automotive glazing applications.
Lexan* GLX polycarbonate features excellent moldability, high optical clarity, and weatherable colorants that can be combined to match a wide range of solar green and privacy tints.
Lexan* GLX polycarbonate is compatible with the latest existing and in-development wetcoat and wetcoat + plasma coating systems. |
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| The Lexan* GLX polycarbonate product line also offers Infrared (IR) Absorbing resin product technology. These grades absorb solar energy, and can be used to reduce the amount of heat load transmitted to the vehicle interior. |
| Design and Molding with Added Functionality |
Significant design innovation and styling freedom are possible through the
two-component injection molding process.
Designed in part integration can be a way to reduce overall part systems weight, and systems cost by reducing the number of parts and their required assembly. |
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Detail of molded in attachement |
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Molded-in assembly solutions allow non-adhesive attachment methods.
Design for disassembly solutions results in ease of exchange/repair and recycling. In addition conventional adhesive systems have been validated with Exatec® 900. |
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Roof demonstraton part featuring integrated “Doghouse” attachments that are included in the 2nd shot molding |
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Exatec’s 1.1 m2 Lexan* polycarbonate SUV backlight example with significant part integration on the back side second component (black) molding – including attachment features, bosses, handles, and bonding path |
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| Molding technologies such as injection-compression molding and two-component molding are well understood and practiced at Exatec's Global Development Centers. |
| Exatec® E900 Grafx Technology |
Exatec® E900 Grafx Technology makes use of film insert molding, which is being used for the first time on Lexan* polycarbonate (PC) automotive glazing applications in which a piece of pre-printed (usually reverse-printed) film is formed, cut and inserted into the mold cavity.
Lexan* resin is then injection molded behind the film to encase the graphics in a solid piece of glazing such as a roof top, backlight, rear quarter and extra windows. The Exatec® E900 Grafx system is an excellent candidate for high-impact color effects, logos and brand differentiation. |
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Lexan* polycarbonate glazing with Exatec® E900 Grafx in mold film technology |
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| Furthermore, easy running-change in graphics is facilitated because the process only involves a new printing screen, so branding and model differentiation is made easy at a lower cost and higher efficiency. The ability to utilize the broadest pallet of colors and effects is in high demand to global OEM designers to help bring their brands to life. |
| Exatec® PIX900 blackout ink technology was used to enable replacement of the glass backlight and quarter windows of the Renault Sport R26.R. |
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Limited Edition 2009 Renault Mégane R26.R: Exatec® Ink Technology enabled Renault Sport to graphically depict the June 23, 2008 lap record time of 8 minutes 17 seconds around the famous Nürburgring circuit, in Nürburg, Germany |
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| Exatec’s Advanced Technology Development Center features a wet coating facility able to handle large parts (>1.5m2) and multiple types of wetcoat technologies. We are constantly applying and evaluating the latest wetcoat technologies from leading global suppliers. |
Protective coating layers on polycarbonate include thermal or UV cured hard coats, providing resistance to both sunlight UV exposure and scratch and abrasion. Exatec has also developed a glass-like plasma coating that can be applied over a hard coat-resulting in enhanced weathering and abrasion performance.
Hard coats and Exatec® plasma coating have been validated on Lexan* polycarbonate. The choice of the appropriate coating system depends on the application performance requirements.
Exatec offers the Exatec® E900 hard coat + plasma system - capable of <2% taber delta haze abrasion performance, long term wiper and surface abrasion durability, and 10+ year weatherability. |
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Exatec® E900 (wetcoat + Plasma) Coating System |
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Taber Abrasion (1000 cycles) |
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Exatec's proprietary PECVD technology provides superior glass-like abrasion performance. In addition, Florida weathering data indicates high durability of Exatec® E900 Polycarbonate Glazing system. |
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Plasma coating facility in Wixom, Michigan USA |
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| Dispensed Defroster and Antenna |
Defroster
Exatec has developed an electrical window defrosting technology that has performance similar to those found on glass windows today. The conductive paste is applied to a final three-dimensional part after either wetcoat or wetcoat + plasma protective coatings have been applied. |
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Dispensed electrical defroster technology from Exatec for Polycarbonate glazing |
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Antenna
In a co-operation with FICOSA International, Exatec offers an overall integration concept by fractal antenna designs which allow a very high degree of miniaturization and multi-band capability even in a single design. These can be applied through dispensing or printing directly onto the coated polycarbonate. |
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Fractal Antenna technology for Polycarbonate glazing |
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| Electroluminiscent light-band integrated into a roof modul |
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Exatec® 900EL (Electroluminescent interior light-band) technology integrates light band functionality into glazing panels and is an example of enhanced options available with polycarbonate glazing.
Through a special in-mold film process, an electroluminescent (EL) light band can be integrated directly into the perimeter of the transparent polycarbonate car roof.
The EL band technology provides illumination intensity that conforms to legal regulations and allows drivers and passengers to adjust the interior lighting brightness to their individual needs. |
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In addition to providing a unique interior lighting look for a vehicle, this technology is ideal for compact integration because the large luminous areas are dazzle and shadow-free and do not need to be built into the interior like a normal light.
Other benefits of the Exatec® 900EL technology are low power consumption, high ductility, the ability to withstand heat and cold and the fact that the luminous areas themselves do not heat up. |
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The ease and quality of laser marking can now be applied in a unique way to Lexan polycarbonate glazing |
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Part marking of polycarbonate glazing with Exatec® ISL (inner substrate laser marking) technology:
Exatec’s team of engineers and material scientists has developed this proprietary technique to work with the wide range of colors and tints available in the Lexan* polycarbonate product line. |
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| Part marks, bar codes, graphics and logos can be permanently “buried” within the polycarbonate without damage to the coatings. As the part mark is created after the coatings have been applied, the ISL process can add a sequenced process lot number tracking capability. |
| Performance Testing and Validation |
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| Taber abrasion testing at Exatec’s Advanced Technology Development Center |
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Exatec features a full service lab and testing capability focused on advance polycarbonate glazing technology through sample testing, in-house prototype and product certification and assisting in the development of polycarbonate glazing tests and specifications.
Capabilites include: |
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Weathering Testing: natural exposure, accelerated weathering and thermal cycling |
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Coating Systems Performance: adhesion, bonding/adhesives, and abrasion (Taber®, Oscillating Sand, Spinning Brush and Wiper) |
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Analytical: Non-destructive testing and analysis |
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Dedicated scratch and abrasion lab and team to study fundamentals of scratch damage mechanisms on coatings |
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Lab-Scale Wiper Test Equipment, Part of Exatec’s Scratch and Abrasion Evaluation Capabilities. Correlations are made to Exatec’s fleet test vehicles |
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| Taber Test Performance |
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Taber® Abrasion
The Taber® Test is used to check compliance with regulatory scratch and abrasion performance standards. It should be performed using the most current ASTM D1044 protocol. http://www.cs-10f.com/
These factors should be tightly controlled when performing this test: |
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Temperature and humidity |
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Vacuum suction force and height |
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Refacing stone type and usage |
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Between-sample time interval |
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Haze-meter and sample holder |
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Machine calibration and verification |
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