Editorial: In the pursuit of innovation
Björn Hedlund, vice president, sales and marketing of DuPont Engineering Polymers, explains how at the 2007 K show (in Düsseldorf, from October 24-31) and in these pages, we will be focusing on our vision for 2010 – that of "Giving Shape to Smarter Ideas." In other words, how our materials and global expertise can combine to promote innovation and help customers get to market faster, with better products, more cost effectively.

New technologies for metal replacement
Nandan Rao, technology director for DuPont Performance Materials, describes how DuPont is working on several exciting, new technology platforms. DuPont technology solutions in development include polymers with high temperature resistance, superstructural capabilities and thermal conductivity.

Turning automotive visions into reality
The overall drivers for development in the automotive industry have changed little in the last decade. Cars should be made safer, more comfortable, and lighter, and their environmental impact should be reduced. DuPont Engineering Polymers with its strongly application-oriented palette of products is helping the industry to attain across-the-board objectives as well as highly specific ones.

A material with vision
One of the areas of intense development amongst European OEMs is the Advanced (or Adaptive) Front-lighting system (AFS). In the system developed by French automotive lighting supplier Valeo, stiff and hydrolysis-resistant DuPont™ Zytel® HTN PPA is used for the housing of each headlamp unit.

Large truck air duct blow-molded in DuPont™ Zytel® nylon
A three-dimensional blow-molded air duct, used on Volvo trucks with a 12-liter engine, is currently being produced by TI Automotive in Norway using an unreinforced, toughened and heat-stabilized grade of DuPont™ Zytel® nylon. The duct, which weighs just over two kilograms, is one of the largest blow-molded parts that DuPont is aware of.

A new global center of excellence for extrusion
With the inauguration of a new multilayer and corrugation extrusion line at its European Technical Center (ETC) in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this year, DuPont marks the company’s long-term commitment to broaden its material and technical expertise to the growing extrusion sector.

“Polymers create space for reinvention”
Mario Di Filippo, principal of Stylus Design, and creative director Peter Edauw are enthusiastic proponent’s of engineering polymers from DuPont. Their industrial design agency has a core business of designing and developing new products for the international sports and leisure industries, a highly competitive and demanding segment.

Safe and energy-efficient cooking
For the first time, heat-resistant DuPont™ Zytel® HTN semi-aromatic polyamide has been used to cover the induction heating coils of a new IH cooking range from Hitachi Appliances, Inc. in Japan. The revolutionary range responds to most types of metal cooking vessels by producing high levels of heat for safe, reliable and energy-efficient cooking.