Production of splashers made of R&P POLYPLASTIC polymer nanocompounds for new Gazelle lorries starts in 2021

An innovative polymer nanocompound for moulding splashers of GAZ vehicles has been developed by Russian R&P POLYPLASTIC.  The material based on polyamide 6 includes graphene nanotubes.

This is the first Russian injection moulding compound capable of meeting auto industry standards on electrical conductivity and physical properties required for production of exterior components.

“It is much cheaper to produce splashers and many other exterior parts by extrusion moulding from polymers than by pressing from sheet metal. However, the problem is that polymer compounds with suitable mechanical properties usually cannot conform to parameters of volume resistivity required for painting body parts on line. To paint such parts it was necessary to have a separate line – this is economically unprofitable. We managed to solve this problem: electro dispersive compounds with nanotubes enable to the whole vehicle body on line”, sais Mikhail Katsevman, Head of R&D at R&P POLYPLASTIC.

Nanotechnologies allowed to fundamentally change polyamide properties in terms of electrical conductivity: time-constant isolation resistance level amounts to 106–108 Ω∙см while all physical properties remained perfectly intact. Specialists from R&P POLYPLASTIC R&D center spent over a year to master this technology.    

First prototypes of splashers on trial equipment were moulded in the end of 2020. They passed all tests successfully and in 2021 specialists from R&P POLYPLASTIC together with the GAZ molder proceeded to pre-production: a large batch of polymer nano-compound for production of splashers for the first new series Gazelle vehicles. By the second half of 2021, series production is scheduled to start.