Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
August 02, 2016 02:00 AM

Innovations developed for plane will be used on the ground

Kerri Jansen
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Solar Impulse 2
    Bertrand Piccard, one of the pilots of Solar Impulse 2, takes a selfie as the plane nears the end of its round-the-world flight.

    The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft has completed its around-the-world tour, landing July 27 in Abu Dhabi, its departure city.

    Conceived as a demonstration of sustainable fuel technologies, the lightweight, exclusively solar-powered plane clocked a cumulative 500 flight hours throughout the mission. Pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg were joined at the finish line by a roster of partners including chemical companies Solvay SA and Covestro AG, which provided materials used throughout the plane.

    With the wingspan of a Boeing 747 but the weight of an average SUV, SI2 is made possible by carefully chosen lightweight and strong materials, including Solvay's carbon fiber pre-preg. Covestro technology was used for a number of structural elements on the aircraft, including the windshield, cockpit door and the cockpit shell itself.

    “It became a bit of a flying laboratory for us,” said Covestro Chief Sustainability Officer Richard Northcote. “We had the opportunity to test materials. We were being put under friendly pressure, I would say; just because you're a partner did not guarantee that your materials would be used on the plane. We were still competing against any other materials in the market.”

    Covestro developed the aircraft's single-seat cockpit with polyurethane providing structure as well as insulation.

    “During the day the plane climbs to an altitude of 28,000 feet… in order to maximize solar radiation that's hitting the solar panels and recharging the batteries. The problem is that at 28,000 feet, the temperature outside the cockpit is about minus 40,” Covestro's John Skabardonis explained in a recent presentation at Design in Plastics, held in Providence, R.I. “The really interesting thing is, they said, ‘We can't spare one volt of energy to heat the cockpit, so you guys have to come up with the materials that insulate this cockpit and keep the pilot alive.'”

    PU foam, which also is used as insulation for the batteries, was the lightweight solution.

    Solar Impulse 2

    The Solar Impulse 2 flies over the pyramids in Egypt.

    “Because we could create the mold and create a one-pour shell system, that became a fantastic advantage for them,” Northcote said. “They didn't have to worry about adding other weight with other supports.”

    Covestro pulled a new material from its development pipeline for the cockpit's door panel: microcell foam, a thinner, more efficient insulation material with a smaller pore size that is being marketed now to appliance manufacturers. The material made its debut in the Solar Impulse project, and Northcote expects to see refrigerators with this technology on the market next year.

    The company's thermoplastic PU film, used in the SI2 seat, is finding its way into commercial aircraft, he added. Air-filled, it allows the seat's firmness to be adjustable, especially appealing in first-class cabins.

    SI2's windshield is made with polycarbonate films separated by an air gap.

    “This was high pressure on us, because they demanded we achieve the visual quality of glass,” Northcote said. “Polycarbonate is great, but for the first time using films we managed to achieve the same quality as they would have had had they had a sparkling glass windscreen. And of course using polycarbonate, that's a fraction of the weight, and it was anti-fogging, anti-misting, anti-scratch — all the things it had to be.”

    The technology could potentially be used in automotive applications, where the electrification of vehicles in particular is driving increased demand for lightweight solutions, Northcote said. More attention now is being paid to overcoming the engineering challenges of using polymers in automotive windows.

    “To achieve the visual quality of glass has been a very tough engineering challenge that we've overcome now with Solar Impulse,” he said. “We have seen substitution in sun roofs, for example, but still most of the sun roofs are made with glass. Where we've had the major substantial breakthrough is with headlights — I don't think you'll find a glass headlight in the market today, they're all polycarbonate — but the next stage now is windows.”

    Supporting Solar Impulse is one part of Covestro's sustainability vision, which includes goals to halve its carbon dioxide emissions by 2025 and improve the lives of 10 million people in underserved markets.

    “When we joined [the Solar Impulse project] in 2010, it was really a meeting of minds,” Northcote said. “[CEO Patrick Thomas] saw the vision that Bertrand had of pushing boundaries of science to make the impossible possible very much in line with his own vision of where this industry should be contributing to societal development, environmental development.”

    Covestro applies its portfolio of materials in a range of projects aimed at providing inexpensive housing, sanitation and food preservation solutions to disadvantaged areas.

    An initiative called Project Sunrise works with the support of Covestro's business units on some of these programs.

    “[The idea is] that if we can use this technology that benefits the world in so many ways because of energy efficiency and all of the other things, why is it only at the top echelons of society? Why is it only that part that gets the benefit? Why can't we find business models and ways of taking this technology to the base of the social pyramid, that will help to house the homeless, that will help to stimulate economic growth in poor agricultural areas?” Northcote said.

    The team partnered with Habitat for Humanity on providing low-cost, quickly constructed housing made with a PU-cement mix that provides insulation and is able to withstand typhoon-level winds. A thousand houses are currently under construction in Tacloban, the Philippines, with India, Jordan and Iraq among other targets for the technology. And officials in Germany have asked for help housing Syrian refugees.

    Northcote emphasized the need for inexpensive but quality shelters.

    “There's a huge demand for fast but permanent housing or homes for people, and we've been adamant at this. We don't want an off-the-shelf solution,” he said. “If you're going to house somebody, they have to feel comfortable in it, they have to want to live there. So we've been putting a lot of effort into maintaining a low cost but giving something that people want to live in.”

    Covestro materials also are being developed for food preservation applications, to extend the economic value of agricultural products. In areas where cold storage is not common, PU foam insulation can help get more produce to market before it spoils. And polycarbonate solar dryers — imagine a greenhouse that acts as a controlled drying unit — also can extend the life of produce and other foodstuffs.

    “It's basically a case of as soon as your tomato is ripe, you've got to get it 30 miles to a market and sell it, or else it's going to be rotten the next day,” Northcote explained.

    Like Solar Impulse, demonstrating the capabilities of these programs is the first step to potentially scaling up the technologies.

    “The benefit that we have as a corporation is, this is increasing raw material sales into a market we don't touch at the moment; we don't sell polyurethane into that market,” he said. “So if we do flip that trigger that allows us to go in, in large volumes, to build large housing developments, for example, then that's a good avenue for raw material sales for the business unit in the long term.”

    Northcote said his team is next looking at what it can do in the U.S. and South America.

    “Everywhere is different. Every building code is different. We have to look at things in a very methodical way, so it does take time. But I think the patience and the perseverance is worth it in the long run,” he said. “Because we can build a house in five days that will last for 100 years. So we've got something there that is really valuable but we have to work, we have to create these partnerships that allow us to do it on the scale that we need.”

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Hoenig named Plastics Pioneers Association president
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Treaty talks stumble on debate over resin production cap
    2
    GM, Stellantis give $15M lifeline to insolvent supplier
    3
    Tekni-Plex starts $8.5M medical expansion in Costa Rica
    4
    Plastics additives one focus in Paris treaty talks
    5
    Resin Prices
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified