Automotive
Advanced lighting solutions for innovative automotive lighting
Functionally and aesthetically, lighting is essential for automotive. Modern lighting is not only serving proper vision for the driver, but also contributing to enhance safety by adaptive lighting technology combining with advanced driving assistance systems. BASF is offering various solutions to automotive lighting from high heat resistance PPA materials to advanced PBT & PA solutions. With BASF lighting solutions, your innovative idea can be realized.
Lamp Housing
Lamp housing contains and protects sub-components such as lens, reflector, bezel and lamp modules. To fix whole headlamp assembly to the car body properly, good strength and dimensional stability of the component are essential. Ultradur® 4300 G series has good rigidity, dimensional stability and low water absorption which is suitable for lamp housing. Ultradur® S 4090 G series is the ideal choice when lower warpage, higher flow material are needed.
Lamp Bezel
Lamp bezel is a key component to define the exterior style of the vehicle. It is asked to have excellent surface finish quality to allow post-treatment process, ‘metalizing’. Ultradur® B4560 is a market proven product for lamp bezel to support direct metalizing process without primer. Ultradur® HGL IV has lower fogging on the headlamp lens with the higher flow flowability, which is a critical quality requirement for thinner bezel design. Ultradur® B4570 HGL LT is specialized to support laser marking process without degradation during laser during marking process for more attractive lettering on metalized bezel surfaces with high contrast.
Lamp Module Frame / Bracket
To realize advanced headlamp technology such as matrix LED beam or adaptive headlamp, modern headlamps include diverse lighting modules inside. Sub-components like frames, brackets and plates, require materials to meet various technical requirements. BASF offers Ultradur® B4040 G series to support highest stiffness for robust designs, along with Ultradur® B4300 G, S4090 G series, depending on technical requirements of sub-components. In case high heat-resistance is required, Ultramid® Advanced T1000 series, reinforced PPA grades, maintain excellent mechanical properties and dimensional stability at elevated temperature up to 120°C. For heat generation issues from sunlight and lamps, Ultrason® E 2010 MR BLACK HM, black with IR transparency, provides heat management and cosmetic solution.
Lamp Reflector
In order to capture luminous flux radiated by lighting source and beam toward the road, there are different reflector designs aligning with headlamp design. This results in different technical requirements on the material. Most reflectors used to be made of steel sheet, but to stabilize dimension and achieve complex designs, plastics are mainly used today. Ultradur® B4560 can support direct-metallizing processes without primer for metallic surface plastic reflectors. In case the reflector is exposed to higher temperatures, Ultrason® E 2010 series with a high glass transition temperature of up to 225⁰C is the solution. It can be used not only for lamp reflectors but also lamp holders, bezels and extensions under concentrated heat.
PU Reactive Hot-melt Adhesive for Headlamp Bonding (Not available in Europe)
Adhesives play a very important role in assembly process of headlamp. Tight boding between lens and housing is crucial to keep inside away from humidity and dust under all driving conditions. A qualified adhesive can bring not only the reliable performance but also processing flexibility. Elastotite® series reactive hot-melt adhesive, with the combination of reactive polyurethane technology and hot melt adhesive coating process, provide you higher initial bonding strength and production efficiency without sacrificing operation time. Elastotite® with its specifically designed recipe for mixed materials bonding including metal, glass and plastics, is the perfect choice for headlight assembly.
UV Hardcoat Cover Screen
The cover screen is forming the front cover of the head lamps and is essential for good light transmission. A hard coating on top makes it more durable from weather and scratched ensuring perfect luminance and appearance. Our materials are suitable for spray and flow application. The UVGloss is a long proven product in the market. RayGloss is the next generation of UV hardcoatings with further improved weathering stability.
Detailed material information for automotive lighting
» Engineering Plastics
Engineering Plastics for automotive lighting
Ultradur® B4300G / B4040G / S4090G (PBT)
Ultradur® B4560 / B4570 High Gloss /
Ultradur® B4570 HGL LT