Headlights: Transparency meets heat resistance

When shopping for a new car, headlights are often not in the focus of car buyers, even tough they are very important to the drivers safety. When it is dark or the weather bad, for example, it is important to see and be seen.

For decades, the vast majority of vehicles were equipped with halogen headlights. Today, automakers usually provide their new cars with high-intensity discharge (HID) lights - also called “xenon” headlights - or even LED headlights to achieve a reduction in energy consumption. In addition to the different types of headlights, advanced features such as curve-adaptive headlights and high-beam assist are available.

The main headlight module includes parking light, low-beam, and high-beam. Increasingly, the turn signal is also no longer installed in a separate module, but is also component of the main headlight module. Part of this headlight assembly is the headlight lens that covers the lamps to effectively disperse or direct light.

Most headlight lenses these days are made from polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic polymer. This means it is pronounced heat resistance and can withstand the high temperatures emanating from the lighting material. Polycarbonate is also characterized by glass-like transparency, high rigidity, impact and break resistance at the same time. The plastic material can easily moulded into complex shapes, which makes a huge advantages over glass. In addition, polycarbonate  is 250 times stronger than conventional glass but weighs only half as much, and provides both functional and aesthetic benefits.

In the future, headlights could be made entirely of polycarbonate, which would reduce their weight compared to conventional headlights. An innovative concept is on the way.

Heat resistance, impact strength and high transparency: with VESTASOL® TMC-on, Evonik's Crosslinkers business line offers the starting material for the chemical syntheses for products used in the plastic industry such as high performance polycarbonate. Polymers, polyamides, polyesters and polyurethanes can be synthesized via various intermediates.

Crosslinkers - Creating Marketable and Intelligent Solutions

Mechanical strength, durability, chemical resistance and excellent solubility and adhesion properties – Evonik´s business line Crosslinkers offers tailor-made solutions for customers all over the world. As a raw material supplier, we have a profound understanding of the needs of our customers and their markets. Our range of products and expertise generates added value in a number of areas: from coatings and adhesives to civil engineering, high-performance elastomers and composites.

VESTASOL® TMC-on offers the basis for the use of polycarbonates in headlights.