SABIC showcased a range of innovative applications from the automotive and mass transportation industries with advanced material solutions that are helping manufacturers achieve, and in many cases exceed regulatory compliance requirements for safety and quality at ChinaPlas 2014.

These materials simultaneously enable performance gains through light-weighting, which in the automotive and aerospace industries can mean significant gains in fuel efficiency.

With such customised solutions in place, Sabic and its customers are well-positioned to help China achieve its long-term goal of ensuring a complete and accessible national rail and airport infrastructure, with 90 per cent of the population having access by 2020, in addition to making progress on the development of higher energy- and fuel-efficient vehicles.

For automotive, Sabic’s industry-relevant selection of materials supports applications across various vehicle segments, including: chassis, electrical and electronics, exteriors, interiors, lighting, as well as powertrain and fuel systems.

Automakers have long sought a viable, lightweight alternative to steel for this part of the vehicle. Previous concepts shared with the industry have simply sought to replace tailgate parts made out of conventional materials with plastic.

However, Sabic’s tailgate concept is optimised for an all-plastic solution from the earliest stage of the design process to deliver the desired stiffness and strength in addition to weight savings of up to 30 per cent of 12.5 kg compared to tailgates of a similar size using conventional materials.

The design also provides unique levels of function integration and significant freedom to create vehicles with striking designs. Based on extensive computer-aided engineering simulations and additional testing, Sabic compared its tailgate concept to those using alternative materials like steel, aluminium and various hybrid offerings. The results show Sabic’s all-thermoplastic tailgate is the most favourable system solution when it comes to weight, total cost, quality, ease of production and design freedom.

Sabic draws from its wide selection of thermoplastic materials – in addition to its design, engineering, test and technical support capabilities – to provide a one-stop source for tailgate design and construction.

A synthetic material known as polybutadiene rubber (BR), a homo-polymerised 1, 3 butadiene, from Sabic’s Performance Chemicals business, can be used to develop tires that are safer, more fuel efficient and longer lasting than traditional rubber tyres.

Tyres produced from Sabic’s BR material may allow for greater wet grip, abrasion resistance and lower rolling resistance, which are the key performance attributes in tire technology. The challenge with tire design is that often, improving one attribute will compromise another. The Sabic BR material’s enhanced properties over a range of temperatures and road conditions can reduce this compromise.

An ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) synthetic rubber material can be used for glass run seals. As part of the link between a car’s body frame and the window or door, EPDM provides high durability while being waterproof, dustproof and eliminating noise. Sabic EPDM 756 seals are flexible and have adhesion to metal while having light density.

Speciality Polymers are most noted for their high stiffness, mechanical strength and good resistance.