Custom engineered thermoplastics compounder RTP (Winona, Minnesota / USA; www.rtpcompany.com) has introduced new thermally conductive compounds designed to replace metal components in automotive heating and cooling systems. Using these compounds can enable a reduction in part weight of up to 50%, the US company says.

"The automotive market is putting more emphasis on eliminating metals in order to reduce vehicle weight and increase fuel efficiency," remarks Neil Hardwick, conductive products marketing manager. The compounds provide thermal conductivity values that exceed those of stainless steel, he says, and can be either electrically insulating or electrically conductive, with some also providing EMI shielding properties.

Automobile systems that are ideal candidates for redesign using thermally conductive compounds include both air-cooled and liquid-cooled systems for batteries, emissions control, lighting modules, and electric vehicle thermal management. Thermal conductivity characteristics can be incorporated into a variety of resin systems including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), nylons (PA), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), and polyphthalamide (PPA) among others.