Material benefits

It’s a truism of design that form is dictated by function, but it’s also heavily influenced by materials. In the automotive industry the shape of vehicles and the way they are made have long depended on the materials used to make them: predominately steel and glass. But now polymer scientists are developing new materials that are as strong as their traditional forebears, but considerably lighter. With this advent, the look of cars, and the way they are built, is changing rapidly.

From the point of view of materials developers, closer co-operation with customers involves a great deal of study. According to Hartmut Löwer, head of innovation and research for Bayer MaterialScience’s polycarbonates business, it’s a process where supplier and customer have to educate each other. ‘It’s a matter of survival, that we both understand the requirements of the other side,’ he said.

Bayer, one of Germany’s largest chemical companies, dominates its home town of Leverkusen, with its illuminated logo visible from several miles away. Its name is known from the Bayer brand of aspirin in the US, to the local football team Bayer Leverkusen. But it’s also a major player in the field of specialist polymers and, along with General Electric, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of the hard, clear plastic polycarbonate that it sells under the trade name Makrolon.