BASF’s Ultramid Expand wins SPE Automotive Award

The shock absorber made of the polyamide particle foam Ultramid_Expand, which was jointly developed by BASF and Mercedes-Benz for the Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX technology project, won second place in the "Enabler Technology" category at the SPE Automotive Awards 2024.

SPE stands for the Society of Plastics Engineers, which annually recognizes outstanding developments in the field of engineered plastic components for automobiles.

The job of the impact absorber is to absorb and disperse the forces generated by a collision and transmit them to the body. Metal structures are usually used, but they are complex and costly to process. Ultramid Expand offers several advantages in this regard: The use of polyamide particle foam reduces weight and increases energy absorption in the event of a collision. The production process is also more cost-effective than metal structures.

Ultramid Expand is ideally suited for use in the automotive industry. Ultramid Expand is a particle foam that withstands the body-in-white painting process, can be used as a reinforcement insert for later closed structures of the body, and can be installed in the body-in-white due to its high temperature resistance. The particle foam meets the stringent requirements of the automotive industry for interiors and long-term use.

Another benefit is that polyamide particle foams are very suitable for overmolding with the same material. “This makes entirely new types of hybrid components possible, which can be recycled as mono-material thermoplastic systems at the end of their life cycle,” emphasizes René Holschuh, Segment Manager for Transportation at BASF High Performance Materials Europe. “Ultramid Expand can thus help to complete the material cycle without compromising the mechanical properties of the component during its service life.”