- Akulon® is proven to be stronger, safer and more durable than metals for air bag housings.
- Its lighter weight due to the superior mechanical properties help reduce costs and energy consumption for airbag housings.
- Akulon (and particularly Akulon Ultraflow®) also provide increased design flexibility and manufacturing innovation.
- Crucially, Akulon has a low carbon footprint and is sustainable through traditional recycling plus innovative new methods like feedstock recovery.
- Ultimately airbag housings last five years longer when made with Akulon.
Akulon is an advanced polyamide 6 resin for airbag housings, with 120 million installations across 150 vehicles globally, and no failures. In particular:
Akulon is proven to be stronger, safer and more durable than metals, increasing passenger safety. Akulon is proven by our global Knowledge Team to operate at the most extreme temperatures (-35°C to 85°C) without compromising its properties. It also outperforms other materials on impact, a fact proven by our unique dynamic burst test, which tests airbag housings to the absolute limit.
Weight reduction = Cost reduction: Ten years ago, a metal-based airbag housing would contain 20 working parts, weigh 3.2 kg and involve 12 separate processes. Today, with Akulon, the same airbag housing contains just 5 working parts, the weight is a mere 1.2 kg and it takes only 6 processes. The weight reduction achieved through the increased surface and flow properties of high-performance Akulon delivers benefits that enable engineers to be more creative, as well as decreasing cycle times and energy consumption.
Design flexibility: The molded plastic parts and the smaller injection-molding machines needed to produce Akulon-based components, can be used for multiple purposes in the manufacturing process. This improves productivity and enables engineers to do what they do best: innovate.
Akulon has a low carbon footprint thanks to its outstanding surface and flow properties. Despite being oil-based products, thermoplastics are more energy efficient than metals and can be recycled, either conventionally (into garden furniture, for example) or through innovative sustainability methods like feedstock recovery, which involves the shredding and separation of complex plastics.
Longer life: By using Akulon for safety restraint systems, the life expectancy of an airbag is now five years higher than it would be for metal (plastics don’t rust and have no welds, which of course can break) – now standing at 15-20 years.
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