Technical Information

ROHACELL® for the Automotive Industry

Lightweight design has been a priority in the Improve your efficiency

automobile industry for years, but new
requirements have created an even greater focus
on fiber-reinforced composites, especially in
sports cars and electric vehicles (EV).
With our structural foam ROHACELL®, your
innovative solutions become lightweight realities,
and your processes become highly efficient.
You’ve seen the rest, now test the best!
• Outstanding mechanical strength and low
density
• High thermal stability
Preparation and long production cycles are key
cost drivers of composite technology.
Fast processes like RTM or wet pressing allow
high yields in short times. Using high pressure
and elevated temperatures, the processes can be
sped up. When other sandwich core foams
collapse at such demanding parameters,
ROHACELL® remains stable and supports your
efficiency.

Take it lightly
Compared to monolithic composite structures,
sandwich technology is an excellent way to reduce
weight without sacrificing rigidity. Thanks to its
outstanding mechanical properties and low
density, ROHACELL® offers the most weight-
saving potential of all structural foams.
Featuring a closed cell structure, the ROHACELL® ROHACELL® reduces production time and costs.
foam takes up zero resin. Only the cut cells at the Evonik LWD demonstration car, based on Lotus Exige
surface will be filled. With the ROHACELL® grades Cup:
IG, IG-F or SL you have three different cell sizes to
Replaced GF/UP with sandwich CF/epoxy (2 layers,
select the optimal resin content.
each of 0.8mm) with 2mm ROHACELL® 71 IG-F in:
Foam cores made out of ROHACELL® Triple F have • front clam shell
a smooth, closed surface, so there is virtually no • rear clam shell
resin uptake at all. • roof
• doors
By avoiding unnecessary resin and layers,
• access panels
ROHACELL® reduces weight and cost.
Result: Savings of 25% to over 50% weight in each part

Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH | January 2017 | Page 1/4

Enjoy new design options
Designs using sandwich composites offer many
more options than steel. ROHACELL® compliments
these options with the fast thermoshaping
process: heating sheets up with special IR-heaters
and shaping them by vacuum or pressing. A wide
range of geometries and different thicknesses can
be achieved. The experts in our Sandwich
Technology Center (STC) will be pleased to
support you with shaping techniques for
ROHACELL®.
With ROHACELL® Triple F in-mold foamed cores,
even geometries can be realized that are not
achievable with NC-machining. Even fine surface
details can be accurately reproduced. Metal
inserts, positioned and integrated during
foaming, remain fixed in the core after
demolding.
use cores that meet all required quality
management standards. Please contact us for any
advice and support.
Feel cozy inside
With Electric Vehicles (EV), every single Watt is
critical to the system, and air-conditioning can be
a particular challenge in these vehicles. Body
panels or monocoques made with ROHACELL® not
only offer a structural function, but with its
thermal conductivity of approx. 0.03 W/mK-1 the
foam is also an ideal and efficient vehicle
insulator.
Thermal insulation
Material Thermal conductivity [W/mK-1]

ROHACELL® 0.03
Thermoshaping
Epoxy resin 0.30

ROHACELL® Product Temperature [°C] Steel 10 - 70

71 SL 200 +/-3°C

110 SL 200 +/-3°C For further information visit www.rohacell.com

31 IG-F 203 +/-3°C

51 IG-F 183 +/-3°C Stay on the safe side

71 IG-F 178 +/-3°C ROHACELL® does not contain heavy metals such
110 IG-F 168 +/-3°C
as lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent
chromium, as specified in Directive 2000/53/EC
of the European Parliament and the Council of
For further information visit www.rohacell.com September, 18. 2000.
It does not contain the flame retardants
ROHACELL® assists your engineering and design polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated
work with: diphenyl ether. There are neither any hazardous
substances that might endanger your staff or
• Homogenous cell structure
require special industrial health care.
• Isotropic properties
ROHACELL® is IMDS listed. The Evonik Industry
• Defined ROHACELL® failure criteria
ROHACELL® Product Line is certified according to
• Material data cards ISO 9001 and ISO 9100.
This facilitates work and saves time and cost for
tests and evaluations.

Let us do the job

We provide work closely with you to provide
complete technical support and management of
the complex process of creating ROHACELL®
Triple F cores for your application. For large
volumes of 1000 to 50,000 or more parts per year
our joint venture, LiteCon Advanced Composite
Products in Austria, supplies you with ready-to-

Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH | January 2017 | Page 2/4

Color your world
While the black visible carbon may look appealing,
the highly thermal resistant ROHACELL® in your
sandwich structure application offers new
painting options for your specific customer
requirements. Please evaluate ROHACELL®
sandwich composites in your cataphoretic
painting operations.
Don’t worry about the “BANG”!
ROHACELL® offers high, recurrent energy
absorption that remains almost constant over a
wide range of temperatures. This benefit,
combined with its homogenous structure, makes
it ideally suited for simulations that parallel
practical evaluations very closely.
ROHACELL® 51 IG-F: Simulation vs. practical
evaluation for strength/elongation at strain rate
of 144/s
Source: fka, Aachen
Enjoy the dynamic
Structural automotive parts such as monocoques
have to withstand many dynamic loads over their
lifetime. It is reassuring to know that ROHACELL®
is able to withstand millions of load cycles with a
high level of residual strength. This minimizes the
needed safety margins in design and reduces
weight and material cost.
Fatigue behavior of ROHACELL® 51S in dynamic
four-point-bending test
Source: KTH, Stockholm
Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH | January 2017 | Page 3/4
Select your ROHACELL®
A wide range of ROHACELL® grades with
different densities are available for automotive
applications, depending on the curing method,
mechanical and thermal specifications, or
desired resin uptake. We are pleased to help
you identify the best ROHACELL® grade for your
specifications.

Typical data for ROHACELL® SL standard grade

Property Unit ROHACELL® ROHACELL® Test method

71I SL 110 SL

Density kg/m³ 75 110 ISO 845

Compressive strength MPa 1.3 2.8 ISO 844

Tensile strength MPa 4.2 6.6 ISO 527-2

Elastic modulus MPa 134 202 ISO 527-2

Shear strength MPa 1.5 2.7 ASTM C 273

Shear modulus MPa 33 58 ASTM C 273

Typical data for ROHACELL® IG-F standard grade

Property Unit ROHACELL® ROHACELL® ROHACELL® ROHACELL® Test method

31 IG-F 51 IG-F 71 IG-F 110 IG-F

Density kg/m³ 32 52 75 110 ISO 845

Compressive strength MPa 0.4 0.9 1.5 3.0 ISO 844

Tensile strength MPa 1.0 1.9 2.8 3.5 ISO 527-2

Elastic modulus MPa 36 70 92 160 ISO 527-2

Shear strength MPa 0.4 0.8 1.3 2.4 DIN 53 294

Shear modulus MPa 13 19 29 50 DIN 53 294

ROHACELL® is a registered trademark of Evonik Industries and its subsidiaries.

This information and all technical and other advice are based on Evonik’s present knowledge and experience. However, Evonik
assumes no liability for such information or advice, including the extent to which such information or advice may relate to third
party intellectual property rights. Evonik reserves the right to make any changes to information or advice at any time, without
prior or subsequent notice. EVONIK DISCLAIMS ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND
SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR, MERCHANTABILITY OF THE PRODUCT OR ITS FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE (EVEN IF
EVONIK IS AWARE OF SUCH PURPOSE), OR OTHERWISE. EVONIK SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS) OF ANY KIND. It is the customer’s sole responsibility to arrange for
inspection and testing of all products by qualified experts. Reference to trade names used by other companies is neither a
recommendation, nor an endorsement of the corresponding product, and does not imply that similar products could not be used.

Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH Americas Evonik Specialty Chemicals

High Performance Polymers Evonik Foams Inc. (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
64293 Darmstadt, Germany Theodore, Alabama, USA Shanghai, China
Phone +49 6151 18-1005 Phone +1 866 764-6235 Phone +86 1391 6212034
E-mail rohacell@evonik.com
www.rohacell.com