This report presents the status of automotive lighting materials and processes developed and used by Tier-1 lighting suppliers.
The first part of the report is focused on materials for external lenses with the different substrates and the different coatings including anti-fog coatings, and also internal lenses mainly for projector modules with the question mark of glass vs plastic.
In the second part, the author describes the adhesive bonding between housing and external lens emphasizing the advanced bonding technologies.
Then the reflector material and production are presented emphasising the heavy process of thermoset and the possibility of using other materials such as PEI and even magnesium more adapted to LED light sources.
The metalisation of reflectors and bezels is another important point of the automotive lighting processes. The metalisation of reflector is focused on perfect reflection of the light while metalisation of the bezel is focused on styling appearance with possibility of bright or colored aspects.
The author closes the report with a presentation of the main material players including Bayer MaterialScience, GXC, Red Spot, SABIC Innovative Plastics, DSM, Eschenbach Optik, and Evonik.