Making a big flap – plastics for the environment

*New online-paintable body part grade Ultramid TOP 4000 in production at Mercedes



The current T-model in the E-Class from Mercedes has an especially large fuel filler flap, since it is intended to accommodate variable fueling options. This flap has recently been converted to the new Ultramid® TOP 4000 from BASF, a mineral-filled semi-aromatic polyamide (PA 6/6T). The conductive engineering resin is an improved version of the Ultramid TOP 3000 introduced in 2007 and offers primarily greater stiffness and dimensional stability. Just like its predecessor, the new material is also suitable for online painting. This means: plastic components made from Ultramid TOP 4000 can, without additional effort or costs, withstand the various baths and painting operations to which the rest of the body is subjected. This material thus represents one more step towards the lightweight plastic automobile body thus enabling further reduction of fuel consumption and emissions.



In the course of development, the BASF Verbund once again demonstrated its capabilities, as the experts at BASF Coatings GmbH in Münster contributed greatly to optimizing the new resins on the basis of their know-how in the fields of paint and coating. The fuel filler flap for the Daimler station wagon is manufactured at Kunststoff Schwanden AG in Schwanden (CH), www.ks-ag.ch .