Leverkusen .  Daimler AG and Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS) are to cooperate more intensively in the future on the development of polycarbonate (PC) automotive glazing. As part of the expertise offered by BMS under its "BayVision" brand, Daimler will investigate other potential applications for PC glazing and assess the suitability of this technology for future series production vehicles.

For the Stuttgart, Germany-based motor company, the main advantages of PC glazing are weight savings and the associated reduction in CO2 emissions. Other benefits include design freedom and simpler functional integration.

BayVision combines the core competence of BMS, extensive expertise in glazing raw materials – i.e. Makrolon polycarbonate and its blends – and a comprehensive applications service with in-depth developments in technology covering the entire glazing module process chain. Tools such as rheological and mechanical CAE simulation programs are available as standard. The experts at Bayer MaterialScience also study, among other things, the thermal expansion behavior of glazing modules and offer customers advice on design issues. In addition they provide answers to queries concerning the requisite coating and adhesive raw materials and noise generation.

“BayVision will set new standards for tomorrow’s motor vehicles and, in addition to reducing CO2 emissions, will open up completely new horizons in vehicle design”, says Dr. Günter Hilken, head of the Polycarbonates Business Unit at BMS. “This intensified future cooperation with Daimler in the field of polycarbonate glazing represents another milestone in the development of products and technologies for automotive construction.” The roof module of the Mercedes GL and the panoramic roof of the smart fortwo are currently in series production, and both use Makrolon AG2677 and Makroblend 7665 or Bayblend T 95 MF from BMS.