Rio Tinto Minerals: Reinforcing materials for automotive components

At this year’s K show, Rio Tinto Minerals will highlight the advantages of its microcrystalline and high aspect ratio talcs for polymers. The company’s new HAR talcs are reinforcing agents for PP automotive parts, providing stiffness and resistance to distortion at higher temperatures. This way PP parts can be made thinner contributing to lighter and more energy-efficient cars. HAR talcs also reduce shrinkage and expansion. They are ideal for bumpers, dashboards, door pillars, and interior and exterior trim.

In tyres, Mistron HAR talcs enhance impermeability. Used as a partial replacement to carbon black, tyre inner liners reinforced with Mistron HAR can give up to 50 % better air retention rates than liners filled with carbon black alone. This allows to reduce liner thickness and tyre weight, making tyres cheaper to produce and lowering rolling resistance. The product also limits oxygen diffusion in the tyre carcass, preventing steel cord oxidation and improving tyre durability. It improves scorch time, viscosity and cut growth resistance. HAR talcs are available in high-density, dust-free micro-beads.

Jetfine talc is designed to increase resin flow and improve impact strength of automotive PP and engineering thermoplastics. Jetfine is ideal for applications requiring good impact performance and thinner wall thickness such as bumpers, fenders, fascias, body or rocker panels and interior parts.

Mistron is a micronised talc which can be used as a cost-effective partial replacement to carbon black in rubber. Mistron acts in synergy with carbon black, lowering compound viscosity, improving mould flow and extrusion rates. It also improves the toughness and durability of carbon black-reinforced rubber goods by enhancing their cut/tear resistance. Furthermore, Mistron restricts the diffusion of liquids and gases allowing to reduce the thickness of rubber parts.