Application of PU for Steering Wheel Production 810138
Until now car factories have been using
1.
hard rubber - lacquered -
2.
cellulose acetabutyrate
3.
PVC - soft -
4.
polypropylene
for steering wheel coverings. In Europe during the last 15 years these materials have been replaced mainly by PUR integral skin foam so that now nearly 80 % of all steering wheels are produced out of polyurethane. In the United States light-colored steering wheel coverings are desired which could not be made with the conventional polyurethane systems on account of the required high light stability. For two years OTTO BOCK KG has been delivering the light stable polyurethane system W 301 for light-colored steering wheels which are used by VWoA.
The purpose for this publication is to describe the reasons for the application of polyurethane integral skin foam for steering wheels which have lead in a relatively short time to such an important and large-scale application area being opened up.
Already in 1949 we made moldings out of polyurethane with metal inserts for orthopedics, and some years later we opened up application areas for polyurethane, which are a matter of course nowadays, in cooperation with the German car producers. More than 12 years ago this systematically lead to the fact that, after the development of the integral skin foam system, we realized its use as an ideal material for steering wheel coverings.
