Innovative DirectSkinning Process Meets the BMW Test

Technology Enables Plastic Part with a PUR Coating, All in One Mold

Exciting new advantages of PUR have the spotlight in Modern Plastics’ article “Molded parts get PUR coating in a single mold.”

DirectSkinning is a new technology involving multicomponent injection molding into a single mold—with one of the materials being a PUR coating that protects its thermoplastics substrate. First appearing at the K show in 2004, the technology had to develop some thick skin to meet commercial requirements for cost and efficiency.

In production at fischer automotive systems GmbH, a German processor of plastics, the DirectSkinning decorative panel seals off a kinematic drawer on the dashboard, directly above the central console. The panel is produced in five colors and has about a 1.4-mm-thick PUR covering based on plastics supplier Bayer MaterialScience’s Bayflex LS (Light Stable) material. The thickness of the PUR coating can be adjusted to a manufacturer’s need.

PUR surfaces provide additional protection and aesthetic appeal to parts. The stability of the product’s polyurethane surface has been tested through heat aging, hot-light aging, climatic change and solar stimulation showing no surface defects, discoloring or other issues over the service life of the product.

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