Breathing hot air into the car’s lungs

* First intercooler end caps made by Behr using BASF’s special Ultramid


BASF’s highly heat-stabilized and highly filled Ultramid® A3W2 G10 has found its first serial application in the end caps of charge air intercoolers manufactured by the Behr company. In this context, G10 stands for 50% glass fibers. The material was tailor-made to meet Behr’s requirements since there was no PA 66-based material on the market that could withstand the continuous temperatures of 190°C [374°F] and the excess-pressure fluctuations between 0.1 and 1.5 bar encountered in the intercooler system. These ongoing ups and downs at such high temperatures pose a great challenge for plastics. The Behr charge air intercooler is already in use in the current Ford line of compact vans, namely, the Transit Connect/Tourneo Connect with a 1.8-liter TDCi common-rail turbo diesel engine.