Chemical giant BASF has called on e-mobility participants to join them at the Chinaplas 2024 in Shanghai – one of the world’s largest plastics and rubber trade fairs held from April 23 to 26 – and offered them a unique co-creation partnership aimed at improving the existing electric motor solutions.
BASF is a global partner to automotive suppliers and OEMs, and the company states it fully comprehends the e-motor challenges. BASF believes its portfolio of engineering plastics is the basis for design and engineering expertise that will help create safer, more efficient, durable, and powerful e-motors in the future.
By leveraging BASF’s technology and know-how, customers can expect to develop next-generation e-motors while simultaneously meeting production targets and market expectations for lowering the product carbon footprint (PCF), says the company. BASF also aims to support customers locally with R&D, application development, and material supply in consistent quantities and quality.
The BASF portfolio for e-motor applications includes tailored plastics for key requirements such as:
- long service life
- weight reduction
- high mechanical load
- noise, vibration, harshness (NVH) reduction
- thermal management
- high voltage insulation
- hydrolysis and chemical resistance
- EMI shielding.
The company says that by utilizing its plastics portfolio, customers can reduce the size and weight of e-engines while fostering functional integration and making them resistant to harsh environments of higher voltages, elevated temperatures, and aggressive cooling fluids. This applies to a wide range of e-motor components including the stator and rotor, housings for the motor and inverter, bearing cages, slot liners, busbars, IGBTs, high-voltage connectors, magnetic encapsulation, and engine mounts.
BASF offers several material classes of engineering plastics, classified into four different compounds:
- Ultramid (PA – polyamide)
- Ultradur (PBT – polybutylene-terephthalate)
- Ultrason (PESU/PSU/PPSU – polyarylethersulfones)
- Ultramid Advanced (PPA – polyphthalamide).
All of them are characterized by a broad property profile, providing benefits like temperature and media resistance, mechanical strength, exact electric compatibility, and tailored flame retardance. The compounds are available in different colors, with short-glass, long-glass, or mineral fiber reinforcement, alongside various heat stabilizers. The BASF high-performance thermoplastics for e-motor parts can be processed in injection molding, eliminating the need for post-processing. They are weldable and offer a high freedom of part design for different construction needs.
“Through our participation in Chinaplas 2024 and other platforms, we connect with our customers and partners to jointly accelerate the plastics journey, as well as support the development of new quality productive forces in China,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lou, President and Chairman of BASF Greater China.
Source: BASF
