DuPont Leader: Innovation and Collaborations
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Collaborations are essential to fuel innovation in the automotive industry and accelerate the green car evolution, DuPont Performance Polymers President Diane Gulyas recently told leaders attending the World Knowledge Forum 2010 in Seoul, Korea.
“Materials expertise and collaboration are fundamental to fueling the materials revolution the industry needs,” Diane said.
Diane noted that the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels is spurring innovation in materials to lightweight cars to reduce fuel consumption. For example, DuPont™ Zytel® PLUS nylon was invented in response to industry demand for long-term heat and chemically resistant plastics.
“Using Zytel® PLUS nylon to replace metal in the targeted applications will eliminate 11 kilograms (kg) per vehicle,” Diane said. “Apply that to the 72 million engines scheduled for 2011, and we can eliminate the need for 144 million gallons of gas — or 3 million barrels of crude oil.”
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| The DuPont™ Zytel® PLUS family of nylon products has excellent performance levels and maintains those performance levels much longer than traditional nylons despite exposure to hot oil, hot air, road salt, automotive coolant and other aggressive automotive chemicals. |
Diane highlighted other examples of collaborations that reduce dependence on fossil fuels including:
- the first use of renewably sourced plastic in an under-hood mechanical component
- the world’s first use of thermoplastic in an oil pan module that saves 1kg
Other DuPont automotive collaborative-based programs include advanced materials to help develop safer, lighter, more powerful electric vehicles that can go further on a charge, improve safety and ensure performance in downsized engines.
