We showcase our smart plastics developments at the LOPEC congress in Munich

Chemical News 29/04/2022

We participated in the LOPEC Congress in Munich, the most important European event for the printed electronics sector, where we showed our developments in intelligent plastics.

We have been working together with the Finnish company TactoTek® for two years on a new solution to manufacture intelligent three-dimensional structures.

At Repsol, we are the first to work on developing this type of polypropylene-based solution, which offers many advantages over the polycarbonate currently used: it has better chemical resistance, it represents a significant weight reduction, and it is a recyclable material, among others. TactoTek® has developed a manufacturing process called "in-mold structural electronics" or IMSE™.

Our colleague, Eva García Biosca, Advisor Engineer at Repsol Química, has presented at LOPEC this joint development to create new grades of polypropylene optimized for IMSE™. "The reasons for choosing polypropylene are its excellent processability, which allows a lower processing temperature, its high chemical stability compared to polycarbonate, and the weight reduction of the pieces, which is especially important in the automotive sector. This opens to IMSE™ its application in other areas such as car exteriors and additional segments such as home automation, wearables, or household appliances. We are right now designing polypropylene injection resins with improved optical properties and film structures for printing electronic circuits."

At Repsol, we are committed to the technification and specialization of our products, which offer high performance to our customers and society.