New Borealis Borcom™ polypropylene solution delivers higher level of weight savings for appliances

Borealis has launched the new Borcom™ WG 140AI microcomposite, the first generation of a new polypropylene (PP) product family that significantly reduces the weight of moulded applications for white goods. This innovative PP base resin has 10% selected micro-scale filler and utilises advanced compounding technology and provides weight savings of between 8-24% compared with traditional PP compounds currently used by the appliance industry.

“Borealis developed the Borcom solution in response to demands by the white goods industry to increase productivity of plastics parts in washing machines, dryers and dishwashers,” says Robert Füreder, Market Development Leader, Borealis Engineering Applications. “With its lightweight micro-scale fillers, Borcom WG 140AI not only enables weight saving and lower part costs, its reduced weight delivers savings on transport, storage and materials handling.”

Typical moulded applications for white goods range from highly demanding parts such as washing machine tubs, and basements for washing machines and dishwashers, through soap dispensers and pump housings, to aesthetic parts like door frames and cladding.

The main materials currently serving these applications are traditional PP compounds either 20% talcum or 40% chalk filled. This new Borcom microcomposite offers performance comparable to or exceeding that of both of these classical filled compounds, thereby allowing all parts to be moulded using a single material.

Importantly, this Borcom innovation gives a 30% impact improvement at comparable stiffness and its similar shrinkage compared with current materials makes it compatible with existing tools. The new microcomposite offers better flowability for easy processing by converters and is simple to colour for product styling and differentiation. Additionally, the straight-from-mould surface quality of Borcom WG 140AI opens the way for its use for aesthetic parts such as control panels for which ABS or PS are the current materials of choice.