Engineers of Peterbilt Motors Company have conjoined their efforts with GE's team to develop a new extrusion thermoforming plastics grade of its mineral-filled Cycoloy polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) resin, for several key components including fairings and a contoured sun visor to achieve top performance and superior aerodynamics. This grade, Cycoloy CE 1820, is considered to enable greater design flexibility and increase aerodynamics for automobiles.
This new extrusion thermoforming plastics grade's key attributes include high modulus of 434,000 psi for better rigidity, paintability and excellent processing characteristics.
The high modulus contributes to the stability of the fairings so that they do not wobble at high speeds or shift under pressure from the wind. This enables the new model to be about 10% more fuel efficient than its predecessor.
17-Aug-05 
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