Using an adhesive to attach the roof of a high-performance sedan requires advanced engineering and a very high level of technical expertise. Ashland Specialty Polymers and Adhesives (SP&A), a business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical, a division of Ashland Inc. met that challenge recently when it helped BMW attach a new light-weight roof to its M3 CSL sport sedan.
The BMW M3 CSL features a roof made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), which is more than 13 pounds lighter than a conventional steel roof. The key to attaching this roof component relied upon a special adhesive to join the roof to the automobile body frame. After testing a number of adhesives, BMW decided that Ashland SP&A’s PLIOGRIP structural adhesive, a two-component polyurethane adhesive, provided the best solution.
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