Freeglass drives yet another snazzy part

The German injection molder, based in Schwaikheim, Germany, near Stuttgart, is molding the B-post finishers (covers the post between front and rear doors) for the Mercedes CLS class passenger cars. These two-component parts are molded of two grades of Makrolon polycarbonate from Bayer-a black optical grade and an automotive glazing grade-to give these parts the appearance of dark-colored glass.

Freeglass is a joint venture of glassmaker Saint Gobain and plastics processor Schefenacker. Molds for the B-post finishers parts include the Contura cooling system developed by Contura MTC GmbH. In this system, cooling channels follow the contours of the mold cavity and core in order to provide more uniform cooling (more on Contura in March 2003 MP/MPI). A siloxane coating gives these parts UV stability and scratch-resistance. Parts are molded on swivel-platen molding machinery from Krauss-Maffei (Munich, Germany). Swivel-platen machines allow for extremely long flow paths by exploiting the ample mold-fixing area.

Earlier this year, Freeglass scored another DCX coup with the transparent Makrolon PC louvered sliding sunroof for the OEM''s new A-class vehicles, available since September. The PC louvers replace metal ones from the first series of the A-class, and offer a 15% weight reduction. Freeglass hinted at both parts earlier (see January 2003 MP/MPI). Freeglass already makes the rear sidelites for the DaimlerChrysler smart for two coupe (previously called the city coupe) and smart roadster.

Matt Defosse [email protected]