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Category: Automotive, Innovation Bonds
Polyurethane Compound Quiets Cars & Lightens the Load
In the world of automotive innovation, engineers and designers are constantly looking to make cars faster and lighter, as well as for ways to dampen cabin noise.
Today, one domestic car manufacturer is turning to graphene-enhanced polyurethane foam to create under-the-hood parts that could have far-reaching implications for the automotive world.
Even to those unfamiliar, it is easy to see why some have dubbed graphene the “material of the future.” The substance is thin, flexible and 200x stronger than steel. It also has high noise-dampening qualities.
Now, one car maker is combining graphene with polyurethane and using the compound to create parts like: fuel rail covers, pump covers and front engine covers.
In tests, use of graphene-infused foam resulted in a 17-percent reduction in noise, a 20-percent improvement in mechanical properties and a 30-percent improvement in heat-endurance properties when compared to the use of foam that contained no graphene.Graphene-enhanced polyuyrethane foam car parts are meant to go into mass production and begin hitting the streets in 2019.
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