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Automotive
CHEMFAB® fluoro fabrics are widely used in the automotive industry as productivity aids that ensure higher quality finishes and/or faster production with lower yield losses. Increasingly, they are also used as components in cars and larger vehicles due to their low friction lining properties and ability to perform reliably over long periods in harsh and demanding environments.
CHEMFAB® fluoro fabrics are used as release linings and tapes for plastic molds and processing equipment, actuator linings for electromagnetic solenoids and sunroof sliding profiles, and as non-stick head covers for welding, forming and joining of various plastic components.
For more information, please view our CHEMFAB automotive brochures:
Applications
Automotive composites manufacturing
Flexibility is one of the key requirements when designing solutions for high volume production of automotive lightweight plastic / polymer components. The non-stick, excellent release surface of PTFE combined with the mechanical strength of fiberglass allows for our CHEMFAB PTFE coated fabrics to be used as release sheets and conveyor belts in lamination and press forming processes.
With excellent temperature and abrasion resistance, these products are compatible with hydraulic presses used in production of lightweight automotive components, through various processes, such of sheet molding compound (SMC), glass mat thermoplastic (GMT) and resin transfer molding (RMT).
The consistent wear properties enable precise reproducibility and continuous operation, greatly reducing overall costs of manufacturing components such as front ends, underbody trims, door carrier, parcel shelf, instrument panels through to functional elements such as panels, interior trims, head restraints liner and arm rests.
Rubber extrusion and curing
CHEMFAB PTFE coated fabrics are an excellent solution for use in the continuous in line cure extrusion processes. Widely used in manufacture of rubber profiles, CHEMFAB PTFE (Teflon™) belts maximize the output and machine productivity by providing excellent release during curing and cooling of the PU, PE or PVC. The non-stick surface of our materials means that no compound residue is left on the conveyor belt and the surface smoothness of the extrudate is not compromised. Resistant to high and low temperatures and dimensionally stable, our products are reliable solution allowing for continuous production in your products and minimizing a risk of rubber profile rejects in your curing process.
Low friction actuator lining
CHEMFAB low friction linings are increasingly used in electromagnetic (EM) solenoids for automatic transmissions control systems. They have very consistent wear and low friction properties over their lifetime with negligible changes in performance even after durability testing up to 10 million cycles. Due to small air gap and low friction properties, CHEMFAB LFL products reduce the requirements for energy by 60% compared to traditional stainless steel tube. They also offer reduction in space and weight, offering improved design flexibility. Hysteresis testing of CHEMFAB Low friction lining range confirms that our products offer low hysteresis, making force requirements low and stable throughout the life time of the EM (electromagnetic) solenoid.
