Ford Eyes Parts Made With Wheat Straw FillersFord Eyes Parts Made With Wheat Straw Fillers

DN Staff

August 25, 2010

1 Min Read
Ford Eyes Parts Made With Wheat Straw Fillers

One of the interesting exhibits at the annual conference of the Industrial Designers Society of America meeting held this month in Portland, OR, showed parts made from polypropylene compounded with a wheat straw bio-filler.

Called AgriPlas, the compund was first featured in the Ford Flex crossover vehicle and is now being expanded for use in small engine covers, a new lawn mower housing and consumer applications.

A. Schulman, a compounder based in Akron, OH, says the new technology reduces carbon footprint, lowers part weight, increases dimensional stability, and requires less energy for manufacturing.

An injection-molded storage bin and inner lid for the interior of the Ford Flex was a Blue Ribbon Finalist for an Environmental Innovation Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers’ (SPE) Automotive Division.

Wheat straw fiber is a by-product of harvesting wheat.

Dr. Ellen Lee, technical expert, Ford’s Plastics Research, says: “We see a great deal of potential for other applications since wheat straw has good mechanical properties, can meet our performance and durability specifications and can further reduce our carbon footprint - all without compromise to the customer.”

The Blue Ribbon Finalist team included Ford, A. Schulman, the University of Waterloo, Omtec and Tier One supplier International Automotive Components. The University of Waterloo led the agricultural fiber project that included the wheat straw fiber development as a member of the Ontario BioCar Initiative.

Ford is one the leading OEMs in use of natural materials.

Thilo Stier, director of innovation, at A. Schulman, told Design News that the company will be showing new developments with Agriplas at K 2010 in Dusseldorf in late October.

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