Ford cuts weight with innovative SABIC Innovative
Plastics' Noryl GTX* resins for the all-new Ford Kuga fenders

In order to help automotive OEMs meet key environmental challenges such as fuel economy and emission targets, high-performance Noryl GTX* resins from SABIC Innovative Plastics are moving from Ford concept vehicles into series production. The all-new Ford Kuga, Ford's first entry into the crossover segment represents the first Ford-branded vehicle on the road with plastic fenders molded from SABIC Innovative Plastics' lightweight, impact-resistant, and recyclable Noryl GTX resin. The Kuga also features the automaker's first production energy absorber for pedestrian protection, moulded of tough, lightweight, Xenoy* resin.

SABIC Innovative Plastics' high-tech materials helped Ford trim down the weight of the Kuga to boost fuel economy and reduce emissions. For example, manufacturing the front fenders from Noryl GTX resin cut the Kuga's weight by 2.0 kg compared to steel. Equally important, the resin enables greater design freedom, allowing Ford to create a stunning new vehicle noted for its muscular presence and athletic styling.

"Our investment in lightweight solutions such as Noryl GTX resins gives the auto industry new material choices to help reduce environmental impacts while delivering outstanding performance," said Derek Buckmaster, global market director, Exterior Body & Glazing,  SABIC Innovative Plastics, Automotive. "And our Xenoy resins are continuing to win new customers, both for concept cars and series production vehicles, thanks to their demonstrated value to designers and tier-1 suppliers. SABIC Innovative Plastics' pioneering technologies can help solve today's automotive challenges of weight reduction, regulatory compliance, and design without sacrifices."

Plastic Fenders That Can Be Treated Like Steel
SABIC Innovative Plastics' Noryl GTX resin was selected to replace steel in the Ford Kuga for a number of reasons. First, the resin can withstand the high temperatures required during the painting process, enabling Ford to utilize its normal on-line body painting process without special handling, and ensuring a perfect color match with the rest of the car's body. Noryl GTX resin is also conductive, allowing high paint-transfer efficiency during the painting process and avoiding the added cost of pre-painting with a conductive primer. Further, the use of thermoplastics significantly expands design options vs. stamped sheet metal.

Noryl GTX blends polyamide (PA) and modified polyphenylene ether (PPE) polymer technologies, combining the dimensional stability, low-water absorption, and heat resistance of PPE with the chemical resistance and flow of PA. The result is an extremely chemically resistant material with the stiffness, impact resistance, and heat performance required for on-line painting.

The Kuga also makes use of SABIC® STAMAX long-glass-fiber-reinforced polypropylene product in the tailgate inner structure.

SABIC Innovative Plastics in profile
SABIC Innovative Plastics is a leading, global supplier of engineering thermoplastics with a  75-year history of breakthrough solutions that solve its customers' most pressing challenges. Today, SABIC Innovative Plastics is a multi-billion-dollar company with operations in more than 25 countries and over 10,500 employees worldwide. The company continues to lead the plastics industry with customer collaboration and continued investments in new polymer technologies, global application development, process technologies, and environmentally responsible solutions that serve diverse markets such as automotive, electronics, building & construction, transportation, and healthcare. The company's extensive product portfolio includes thermoplastic resins, coatings, specialty compounds, film, and sheet. SABIC Innovative Plastics (www.sabic-ip.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), one of the world's top five petrochemicals manufacturers.

For further information, e-mail: anne.clement@sabic-ip.com or view website: www.sabic-ip.com.

Strain injuries reduced with ergonomic mover

Swedish engineering company Famek AB has developed the Stringo Trolley Mover, an ergonomic aid which makes it easy to move heavy trolleys in the manufacturing industry. The trolley mover was developed from the company's vehicle movers following collaboration with a customer with the aim of reducing strain injuries among workers.

Refer to the pictures: The Stringo Trolley Mover reduces strain injuries among personnel whose work involves moving heavy objects.

The background is that a European engine manufacturer approached Famek to solve the problem of moving heavy trolleys carrying workpieces from a warehouse to various production locations. This operation used to cause strain injuries, since the trolleys can weigh as much as 1500 kg. With the Stringo Trolley Mover, the trolleys can now be moved easily and smoothly, reducing the risk of worker injury.

"Naturally we're happy and proud that this manufacturer chose us to develop a mover to move workpieces easily and smoothly from a storage location to a machine tool. At the same time, we can see potential for the use of our new machine not just in engine manufacturing but also in other areas of the engineering industry where heavy trolleys need to be moved," says Anders Bergkvist, Marketing Director at Famek AB.

The Stringo Trolley Mover is small, sturdy, efficient and mobile. The motor is powered by environment-friendly gel batteries, giving six hours' operation at an output of 500 W. A single press of a button couples it to and uncouples it from the various trolleys.

With its castering wheels, the trolley mover can swing through 90 degrees. And despite its 350 kg weight, which is needed to maintain sufficient pressure on the drive wheel, it almost feels as though the coupled trolleys have their own drive," says Anders Bergkvist.

"Every operation involving the movement of heavy trolleys will benefit from our new trolley mover. But the most important thing is of course that it reduces strain injuries," Anders Bergkvist concludes. For further information, view website: www.stringo.se

Ramtron's nonvolatile state savers FM1105-GA and FM1106-GA, have AEC-Q100 Grade 1 qualification 

Ramtron International Corporation (Nasdaq: RMTR), the leading developer and supplier of nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (F-RAM) and integrated semiconductor products, offer two of its nonvolatile state savers, the FM1105-GA and FM1106-GA, which have received AEC-Q100 Grade 1 qualification. The state saver device saves the state of signals on demand and restores them to the correct state automatically upon power up. F-RAM technology uniquely enables this capability due to its fast write time, virtually unlimited write endurance, and low-power requirements.

The Grade 1 temperature qualification allows the FM1105-GA and FM1106-GA to operate over the entire automotive temperature range of -40 degrees C to +125 degrees C, enabling designers to benefit from F-RAM in systems throughout the car. The nonvolatile state saver is as simple to use as a D-type flip-flop. It operates like conventional logic, but stores and retains the logic state in the absence of power, simplifying the design of system control functions.  The nonvolatile state saver with Grade 1 automotive qualification is well-suited for diverse applications including door lock and child safety position electronic latches, airbag deactivation switch, blower speed and vent position for cabin ventilation systems, dome light mode switch, and electrically heated steering wheel and seats, among other applications.

"The Ramtron state saver is an elegant solution that simplifies the design of system control functions. The state saver is unique because it remembers the stored output values without power," explains Mike Peters, Ramtron marketing manager. "The AEC-Q100 Grade 1 qualification of the FM1105-GA and FM1106-GA helps grow our Grade 1 automotive compliant product portfolio, further enabling intelligent automotive applications that respond to the timeliest information available," Peters adds.

Product features
The low-power nonvolatile state saver provides continuous access to nonvolatile system settings without reading a memory or consuming dedicated processor I/O pins.  It enables storage of signals that may change frequently and without notice, and it allows the nonvolatile storage of system settings without the system overhead and extra pins of a serial memory.

The FM1105-GA operates from 4.5 volts to 5.5 volts with a standby current of 20 microamps. The FM1106-GA operates from 2.7 volts to 3.6 volts with a standby current of 8 microamps. Both devices can drive 10 milliamp loads, change state continuously as fast as 1 microsecond, offer 1E12 (1-trillion) state changes, and operate over the AEC-Q100 Grade 1 automotive temperature range (-40 degrees C to +125 degrees C). Visit http://www.ramtron/products/nonvolatile-state-saver for more product details.

Availability
Samples of the FM1105-GA and FM1106-GA are available now. The device are packaged in an 8-pin SOIC that is RoHS-compliant. 

For further information, e-mail: chris.wray@ramtron.com or view website: www.ramtron.com   Refer to page 102