The Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal, Germany, will investigate the Proxxima™ resin system developed by Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary Materia Inc. over the next few years on behalf of the company and explore possibilities for industrial applications.
"Fraunhofer ICT regularly transfers results from basic research into prototypes, small series, and industrial production processes; this is one of our tasks – and one of our core competencies," says Institute Director Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Henning. "The goal of our collaboration with ExxonMobil is to produce load-bearing vehicle components that are more resilient, lighter, and cheaper," explains Jasper Steffens, project manager at Fraunhofer ICT.
Fraunhofer ICT is exploring the possibilities of processing the novel thermoset polyolefin Proxxima™ resin systems using the RTM injection process in computational models and practical tests. Additionally, Fraunhofer ICT is quantifying the performance of the end products using load-bearing vehicle components such as battery housings for applications in electromobility and comparing them to similar components made with conventional resins.
Vehicle components must remain stable under load requirements that regularly occur during driving. On the other hand, they must absorb energy through defined deformation in the event of a collision to protect occupants and sensitive or critical components. Moreover, they should be as lightweight as possible. ExxonMobil attests special qualities to its Proxxima™ resins in all these aspects and also sees the potential to produce components much more efficiently.
Fraunhofer ICT places particular emphasis on the shortest possible cycle time in series production: the expected high efficiency in manufacturing is intended to make the use of fiber-reinforced plastic parts in series vehicles more attractive, in order to reduce the weight of vehicles and thus their energy consumption regardless of the drive technology.
Fraunhofer ICT and ExxonMobil look forward to the collaboration and exchange in research and production. Our goal is to develop innovative solutions for efficient component manufacturing for resource-efficient mobility of the future through this international cooperation, leveraging ExxonMobil's novel material and Fraunhofer ICT's expertise in fiber composite process development.
Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT