Röchling Automotive Italia, in cooperation with SO.F.TER., won the prestigious Automotive Grand Innovation Award 2010, in the category Body Exterior, awarded by the Society of Plastics Engineers (Troy, MI, USA) for the innovative “projectile” injection technology used for the cowl grille of the new Ford C-Max.

Traditionally, this component was obtained by moulding the rigid polypropylene part and by assembling manually the extruded EPDM seal, while the new technology developed by Röchling allows to obtain this sophisticated dual material cowl grille in one single moulding cycle. The tubular seal, made with Forprene® (TPV) produced by SO.F.TER., is obtained through a projectile emptying system developed and patented by Röchling which allows to obtain a tube with consistent wall thickness already integrated in the grille.

Other benefits achieved by this project are a reduction of 30% in the seal weight, the complete recyclability of the part, the cost reduction and a greater design flexibility.

SO.F.TER. supported Röchling in the choice of the appropriate material for this application proposing the highly-reliable Forprene®, a thermoplastic vulcanizate elastomer characterized by a stable behavior and by the mix of technical properties required by such a delicate process.