Decoratively Enameled Plastic Molded Parts for Motor Vehicles

Owner Name: Delaware Economic Development Office Ken Anderson
Category: Plastics and Packaging

Description of Technology:  The invention provides decorative plastics molded parts, in particular for the motor vehicle sector, a process for their production and their use.

Patent Listing:
     1.  US Patent No.  7,001,643, Issued February 21, 2006, "Decoratively Enameled Plastic Molded Parts for Motor Vehicles"

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&1=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F7001643

Market Potential:  Plastics parts are being used to an increasing extent in the construction of cars, not least for weight reasons.  Often, the visible surface of plastics parts is provided with a color and/or effect-producing lacquer in order to give a decorative effect. 

A fundamental probelm is the sinsitivity to mechanical effects of the colored and/or effect-lacquered plastics parts used in the car construction industry.  Plastics lacquers are extrodinarily sensitive to scratching and the impact resistance of color-and/or effect-lacquered plastics parts is low, in particular at low temperatures.  These weaknesses appear in particular in the case of colored and/or effect-lacquered plastics pumpers, anti-bump strips or panels.  Plastics parts suffer considerable damage even on slight contact, for example inadvertent impacts when parking the vehicle, for example due to visibly obvious scratches on the external lacquer or even due to actual fracture of the plastics part.

Benefits:

• light weight

Applications:

• decorative plastics molded parts for the motor vehicle sector.