Environmentally-friendly cylinder head cover

MANN+HUMMEL is manufacturing technically advanced, high quality plastic components from recompounded plastic material. The highlight is a sophisticated cylinder head cover for Volkswagen. It is distinguished above all by its environmentally-friendly construction, it is also less prone to distortion and is more leak-proof. The development partner and original equipment supplier to the international automotive industry will be presenting this cylinder head cover, together with many other product innovations.

The new material, used in Europe for the first time, consists of 100% recompounded plastic material. MANN+HUMMEL is using this high quality recycled plastic material to produce the 3.2 and 3.6 litre V6 FSI engines for Volkswagen. As far as quality is concerned, its properties are equal to, and in some areas, even superior to plastics made from new granulate. The new cylinder head cover is not only environmentally-friendly, it is also less prone to distortion and thus more leak-proof. In addition, it fully meets the requirements demanded by Volkwagen regarding surface quality of design parts in the engine compartment.

The material consists of waste and over-production polyamide fibres from the carpet manufacturing industry. Three quarters of the material is pure polyamide. The rest is made up of polyamide carpet fibres.

By using carpet fibres to create sophisticated plastic solutions, MANN+HUMMEL has developed products which are both environmentally-friendly and high-quality.

Recompounded plastic materials

As far as products are concerned, MANN+HUMMEL is in many projects proactively helping to protect the environment and reduce environmental impacts, for example, by reducing weight, replacing increasing numbers of metal components with plastic, offering environmentally-friendly filter media and designs, extending service intervals, particularly with oil filters, and using more recompounded plastic materials for demanding applications in the engine compartment. The environmental benefit of these plastics, compared with conventional materials, is that plastic waste which is continuously created, for example, in normal production operations, can be recycled. This plays a significant role in reducing crude oil consumption, pollution or cost-intensive disposal.