Polyscope Polymers wins JEC Innovation Award 2019 for automotive sunroof thermoplastic composite guide rails

Polyscope Polymers has won the 2019 JEC Innovation Award in the Automotive Application category.

Polyscope’s XIRAN SGH30EB glass-filled thermoplastic composite was specified by Webasto France and the Renault Group for the roller-blind guide rails on the panoramic sunroof modules installed in the Renault Scenic and Grand Scenic MPV models.

This is a significant automotive innovation for the industry, being the first time that a thermoplastic composite material has successfully replaced aluminium for this type of sunroof design in a mass-produced passenger car.

The move from conventional adonised aluminium extruded profiles to thermoplastic composite guide rails provided Renault with customer design improvements, freeing up 13 mm of headspace for passengers and increasing the angle of vision through the glass panel.

The XIRAN SGH30EB composite guide rails simplified the construction and installation for the sunroof on the Scenic and Grand Scenic vehicle assembly lines, delivering a significant system cost reduction for the sunroofs.

Ferdi Faas, Business Unit Director at Polyscope Polymers, said: “We are absolutely delighted and feel very honoured to have won this prestigious JEC Innovation Award.”

“It was a challenging application development for the Polyscope team, but we were fortunate to be working with outstanding, highly technical, design and engineering people in Webasto France and the Renault Group and the specialist partner companies involved in this project.”