For the second consecutive year, a new solution from Dow Automotive has earned a spot among R&D Magazine’s 100 most technologically significant products introduced in the past year. IMPAXX™ Energy Absorbing Foam improves vehicle safety by absorbing impact energy and providing better protection for occupants. Typical application areas include door panels, headliners, knee bolsters, pillars, instrument panels and bumper systems.

IMPAXX provides improved safety performance while reducing weight, packaging space and cost. It can reduce weight by up to 50 percent when compared to polyurethane and polypropylene parts. Packaging space can be reduced by up to 30 percent, offering greater design freedom. The foam is 100% recyclable, available globally and produced on world-scale production equipment. Three grades of IMPAXX foams are commercialized to meet various customer and application requirements.

Dow Automotive also offers customers full service support to assist in the application of IMPAXX. Services include conceptual part design with CAD, component-level testing capabilities, prototype parts and quality control according to QS/ISO international standards. Early CAD/CAE involvement has been shown to significantly lower development time and costs.

“At Dow Automotive, we strive to create solutions that deliver specific benefits to customer and consumers,” said Peter Sykes, President of Dow Automotive. “We very much appreciate recognition from prestigious organizations like R&D Magazine and their independent panel of judges and editors. We are also appreciative of ongoing customer relationships and we will continue to deliver advanced and innovative solutions to meet and exceed industry needs.”

The R&D 100 Awards competition has recognized leading technologies since 1963 and is open to global competition. The sole purpose of the event is to select the 100 most technologically significant new products from among many entries. Previous winners have included HDTV, the printer, the fax machine and the automatic teller machine. This year’s winners will be announced in the September issue of R&D Magazine.

Already commercialized in headliner and door panel applications for passenger cars, IMPAXX has also been specified by NASCAR for their new safety-driven Car of Tomorrow vehicles, which utilize IMPAXX as an integral part of their overall safety solution.

About Dow Automotive

Dow Automotive is a leading supplier of plastics, adhesives, sealants and other plastics-enhanced products for interior, exterior, under-the-hood, vehicle body structure and acoustical management applications. The organization serves global tier, OEM and aftermarket customers. With offices and application development centers around the world, Dow Automotive provides materials science expertise and comprehensive technical capabilities to its customers worldwide. For additional information about Dow Automotive products and services, visit www.dowautomotive.com