TROY, MICH., November 24, 2008 – Inteva Products, LLC and General Motors have been awarded the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Innovation Award in the materials category, honoring the recently developed polyolefin based material, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) blend for slush molding. The slush molding process is used for interior skins on instrument panels and interior trim. This game changing technology has been incorporated into the General Motors Saab 9-7X and is a significant step towards the goal of an all polyolefin instrument panel. The material represents a first for a North American OEM and parts supplier.

The material was designed to be a “drop in” replacement for PVC and TPU formulations and can be used on existing production equipment. The new material is a unique proprietary blend of compatible polymers. It was developed by Inteva to meet the special processing requirements of slush molding, including the ability to formulate for the very low melt viscosity requirements of the slush process. The material also has a wide processing window, and is ductile to temperatures as low as -35ºC.

The principal benefits of this new material are:

Thermoplastic material
“Running change” replacement for Slush PVC and TPU
Wider processing window than Slush PVC and TPU
Lower specific gravity provides a 25 percent weight reduction versus PVC at the same skin thickness
Enables thinner skins than PVC providing additional weight savings
Low temperature ductility to -35ºC means no fragmentation during hidden air bag deployment at low temperatures
No discoloration, cracking, blooming or dimensional change during long-term weathering (both painted and mold-in color)
Low VOC emissions and fogging
•Resistant to scratch and mar
Inteva has granted an exclusive license to A. Schulman LLC to produce and market the patented material worldwide.