Hyundai Motor's plant in Ulsan will exclusively use BASF's Elastoflex flexible polyurethane (PU) foam system to produce car seats.
High-resilience PU foam is a low-volatile organic compound (VOC) solution primarily used in automotive interiors such as seats and headrests. Compared with traditional foam, Elastoflex has higher comfort, higher elasticity and better load-bearing performance.
To meet the most stringent emission control regulations, BASF has optimized its polyol production process, which is used to produce Elastoflex PU foam for high comfort seat applications. Optimized production processes can be converted into cost-effective, low-VOC specialty polyols.
In tests conducted by SGS (Korea), a leading global testing agency, the new solution is certified to reduce acetaldehyde and formaldehyde emissions by at least 30%, improve indoor air quality and the health of car drivers. Due to the outstanding fluidity of the newly developed PU product portfolio, field tests have also proven that production line productivity is increased and defect rates are reduced.
"Reducing VOC emissions and improving driving comfort are the primary goals of automotive OEMs. We are committed to improving our product solution, Elastoflex, to meet rapidly changing market trends and needs, while maintaining outstanding mechanical properties, providing outstanding performance and Flexible design, "said Postlethwaite, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, Functional Materials, BASF.
"To meet the growth of low-VOC solutions in various fields, BASF has also expanded Ulsan's polyol capacity by 13,000 tons. This expansion provides Hyundai Motor Company and our other important customers in Korea and overseas with a stable supply of products. "
Brian Seo of the Korea Business Administration Office of Transportation and Industry said, "We are excited to work with our long-time partner Hyundai Motor to explore innovative low-VOC solutions for the automotive industry. This is based on our technical expertise and materials innovation. Another example of successful collaboration with Hyundai. "