New Plastics Needed for Ethanol Exposure

Ehthanol was once viewed as a way to help solve the climate change problem. Then we heard about the huge amounts of enegy used to make ethanol, anad then the effects of crop prices. It turns out there’s another issue–the impact on plastic used under the hood.

A new fuel tank pressure sensor from Robert Bosch GmbH uses BASF’s Ultramid T KR 4355 G7, a partially aromatic polyamide (PA 6/6T) that fulfills a new and crucial requirement for materials used in electronic housings. Any material that comes into contact with modern fuels has to be able to resist not only gasoline but also water and alcohols such as methanol and ethanol. These substances are found in the tank, especially due to the emergence of flex fuels that contain alcohol. The new polyamide (also called nylon) can withstand the presence of zinc chloride. At the underbody area the sensor may come into contact with this zinc salt that can be formed by splash water.