Frost & Sullivan has honored Solutia, a performance materials and specialty chemicals company, with the 2012 New Product Innovation Award in the Automotive Glazing Material category.
The award recognizes Solutia’s Saflex S range of advanced solar absorbing polyvinyl butyral interlayers, which efficiently absorb solar heat that is transmitted through the laminated glazing of a vehicle. This helps to decrease air conditioning usage, enhance vehicle fuel economy, and reduce CO2 emissions. Solutia has distinguished itself from other manufacturers by developing a breakthrough solution for automotive OEMs to meet the challenge of growing global fuel efficiency as well as CO2 emissions regulations.
According to an analysis conducted by Frost & Sullivan in the North American automotive glazing market, Saflex S series solar interlayers allows smooth operation of electronic devices within the vehicles and prevents transmission of heat, which minimizes CO2 emissions, increases fuel efficiency, and lowers air conditioning requirements. In addition, the materials block over 99% of the UV radiation that fades vehicle'sleather seats, steering wheel and dashboard and causes skin irritation in humans.
The usage of the Saflex S series interlayers is more critical in electric vehicles (EVs) as it can help boost the mileage of the vehicles. The materials are also offered in an acoustic formulation, similar to Saflex Q series solar product. Saflex S series and Saflex Q series advanced solar interlayers from Solutia have several automotive glazing applications, including side laminate, backlite, sunroof and windscreen.