New acrylic resin for automotive body parts that supports performance and sustainability
The Mitsubishi Chemical Group (the MCG Group) and Honda jointly developed acrylic resin, a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) material, for automotive body parts.
The new acrylic resin material delivers a pliable texture.
The new acrylic resin material is made by compounding acrylic resin with rubber particles to improve its impact resistance. The material is highly transparent and can be toned to a variety of colors. By adding colorants, the material can be created with a glossy surface.
The new material can be toned to a range of colors.
The new material can be adopted for doors, hoods, fenders and other automotive body parts.
In addition, acrylic resin can be recycled as it can be decomposed into acrylic raw materials at high yields by heating.
Taillight-to-taillight closed-loop recycling trials were conducted in collaboration with Honda and Microwave Chemical which they yielded recycled products with quality levels comparable to conventional products.
Compared to conventional products, greenhouse gas emissions over entire product life cycles of acrylic resin are reduced by about 50%.
The new material was adopted into two concept models, SUSTAINA-C Concept and Pocket Concept, which were exhibited in the Japan Mobility Show 2023.
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, a member of the MCG Group, has filed international patent applications for technologies relating to recycled raw materials and acrylic resins made from such recycled raw materials.
