As consumers continually demand more sophisticated and feature-loaded vehicles, the global automotive industry faces growing challenges to balance these expectations with space constraints and weight concerns. Every component receives scrutiny to determine if it can be made smaller and lighter to promote fuel efficiency and performance and help fit more content into the available space. In addition, vehicle manufacturers and suppliers must increasingly consider environmental concerns such as recyclability, as well as overall performance.
So, when Delphi Corporation’s Delphi Packard division needed a wire and cable coating for it’s vehicle electrical system, the company chose Flexible Noryl resin from GE Advanced Materials because it met global automotive manufacturers’ need for high-performance cable that also addressed the requirements for halogen-free parts. The flame-retardant Flexible Noryl resin, an alternative to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), is suitable for thin- and ultra-thin-wall coatings and significantly reduces the weight and size, in addition to conforming to halogen-, chlorine-, and lead-free part requirements.
“The selection of this material allowed us to meet a customer’s need for a better environmental alternatives to current offerings, while providing benefits in weight and bundle size, without compromising durability,” said Lynn Long, business line manager for Specialty Wiring, Delphi Packard Electric. “GE worked closely with our team to help us understand the range of options and find the right formulation, and provided at least 20 different options to ensure all of our requirements were met.”
Key properties
Delphi Packard Electric needed a material that provided excellent temperature and flammability performance and less size and weight compared to the materials typically used for this application. GE’s Flexible Noryl resin fit the bill and provided these key properties. For example, GE’s Flexible Noryl resin is rated at 110?C while PVC is rated at 85?C, and further developments should boost the GE resin’s rating to 125?C. Using the GE material to replace traditional cable insulation also helps reduce weight by an average of 25 percent, helping to address vehicle space limitations.
To help reduce weight in support of better vehicle fuel efficiency, the new Delphi cable utilizes GE’s Flexible Noryl resin for ultra-thin-wall insulation, which enables smaller wire/cable size. For example, replacing standard 0.4 mm thin-wall cable insulation made of XLPE with 0.2 mm ultra-thin-wall insulation made of Flexible Noryl resin results in a size reduction of approximately 25 percent. Delphi is validating the use of GE’s Flexible Noryl resin as insulation on cable as small as 26 gauge (0.13 mm2). Another benefit of smaller cable bundle size and mass for automotive OEMs is the opportunity to use less tape and secondary covering, potentially leading to lower costs.
Other performance characteristics of the new GE material include better abrasion resistance than XLPE, excellent chemical resistance, and lower specific gravity (1.03) than either PVC or PE. The material meets the requirements of Class A and B wire heat aging, with Class C requirements in the final stages of development. For wire and cable manufacturers, these resins also offer easy processing and faster throughput, as they do not require cross-linking.
And, the material meets the requirements of the growing list of international environmental regulations. In addition to meeting the requirement for halogen-free parts, wire coating made with GE’s Flexible Noryl resin helps meet international standards for recyclability; the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) directive; the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) standards; and Japan’s Automotive Recycling Law of 2005. This is an important consideration for Delphi, which is committed to supporting environmental initiatives, as demonstrated by its role in eliminating heavy metals in colorants used in cable production. Using less material to achieve the same or better performance also supports environmental initiatives aimed at reducing waste.
“Our new Flexible Noryl resin materials are a perfect example of GE’s developmental innovation,” said Keith DuPont, market director, Under the Hood, GE Advanced Materials, Automotive. “They offer our customers an entire spectrum of advantages over traditional materials – not just performance enhancements, but also answers to tough design challenges and environmental issues. We’re pleased to be working with Delphi Packard Electric to explore the tremendous potential of this material.”
For more information on GE’s Flexible Noryl resin, visit the GE Advanced Materials website at www.geadvancedmaterials.com or contact Christopher Tessier, GE Advanced Materials at 413-448-6926 or via email at christopher.tessier@ge.com. Delphi Packard can be contacted at 330-373-7647 or douglass.d.hoy@delphi.com.
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GE Advanced MaterialsAutomotive
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GE Advanced Materials Automotive
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