Shared cars play an important role in the future automobile trend. In connection with this, the technology to prevent contamination of leather and fabric used for seat covering will become more important in the future. This is because the seat gets dirty easily due to the nature of the shared car, which is constantly used by many people. Particularly, the interest in the prevention of contamination is increasing as car seats with bright colors such as beige and brown giving a luxurious feeling are loved by many people recently.
In simple terms, Seat Anti-Soiling Technology is a technology that prevents seat contamination. In 2017, HYUNDAI TRANSYS developed this technology and partially applied it to the Genesis G90 front seat skirt (lower part of the rear seat). This technology, which was partially applied due to the limitations of the technology at the time, has now been improved so that it can be extended to the entire seat.
Recently, various new materials such as Aquatex and Sahara that complement water repellency, anti-soiling and wear resistance are being developed even in furniture such as sofas. However, since the materials used in automobiles are directly related to safety, they must pass strict and difficult conditions that are different from those of furniture such as non-combustibility tests. Therefore, it is still difficult to apply new materials used for furniture directly to automobiles.
Accordingly, HYUNDAI TRANSYS has developed an eco-friendly anti-soiling material for automobiles on its own, and it will be available in vehicles in the near future as this material is recently in the stage of completing the material unit physical property verification and improving the final product.
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Excellent anti-soiling performanceThe seat leather and fabric with HYUNDAI TRANSYS' seat anti-soiling technology do not get stained or permeated even after spilling coffee, cola, or ketchup. Using silicone coating, it has low surface tension, hydrophobicity that repels water, and non-polarity, so that it is durable against contamination. Contaminants with sugar such as coffee or cola are not absorbed due to their basic water repellency and flow down as water droplets. Oily contaminants such as ketchup are also removed without a trace. In automobiles, there is a requirement that the material of the seat fabric must have water repellency level of 6.0 or higher and basic pollution source level of 4.0 or higher. But this new technology raises the required standards to level 7.0 for water repellency and level 5.0 for basic pollution source, which is much higher than the required standard.
02
Use of eco-friendly coatingIn the past, there was a case where a coating agent was used on fabric to achieve a similar anti-soiling effect. However, fluorine was used as a coating agent in this case. In the case of fluorine, it is difficult to see it as eco-friendly since it may become toxic if combined with hydrogen in the air.
On the other hand, the seat anti-soiling technology of HYUNDAI TRANSYS developed this time is eco-friendly and harmless to the human body by using silicone. Silicone is a natural substance obtained from a mineral called silicon, not a petroleum-based chemical substance. As it is also described as ‘stable’ due to its low chemical reactivity, it will not be deformed even if there is a sudden temperature change or immersion in water or oil. The reason for using silicone on baby bottles or cookware is also because of such chemically stable property.
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High durability and wear resistanceThe seat surface continues to wear when loading and unloading passengers and various loads. In order to improve the wear property of silicone artificial leather, HYUNDAI TRANSYS has derived the optimization conditions for the main factors that make up surface treatment layer, skin layer, adhesive layer, and knitting layer inside the leather. By applying this condition, the interlayer adhesion strength was maximized, and the wear resistance was improved 2.3 times compared to the existing one.
We are making continuous efforts to convert all plastics, fabrics, and leather used in automobiles, such as materials derived from nature and materials with reduced chemical substances, into eco-friendly materials.
The silicone coating used in HYUNDAI TRANSYS seat antifouling technology is a chemically safe and eco-friendly material. But furthermore, we are researching a technology that can physically prevent contamination without even using this silicone.
It is a method of changing the physical surface structure of the material, which is conceived by the water strider's leg fluff or the lotus flower fluff. In addition, HYUNDAI TRANSYS will strive to make clean and safe seats with eco-friendly materials such as upcycled newspapers and leather materials, and materials derived from nature such as stone and wood.
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