WYANDOTTE, MI, April 30, 2008 – In recent years, headlamps and lighting technology have become a distinctive design element of automobiles, making lighting a prominent part of a car’s appearance.  BASF today announced a new product, Ultradur® B4560 Direct Metallizable PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate), designed for automotive exterior lighting applications.  The material is direct metallizable, eliminating base-coat operations, thereby reducing costs by cutting several steps out of the manufacturing process.

Ultradur B 4560 Direct Metallizable PBT is a standard injection molding grade available in black and uncolored pellets.  Automotive exterior front headlamp bezels are the primary application; however, this material can also be used for non-automotive lighting and other direct metallizable applications.

This resin provides excellent surface quality and a high gloss finish.  In addition, the resin exhibits low plate-out, reduced contamination of tooling, low fogging and low moisture uptake. The high flow reduces cycle times and enables molding of more complex geometries. 

BASF - The Chemical Company. We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.®

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 15,000 employees in North America, and had sales of approximately $16.4 billion in 2007. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, or to sign up to receive news releases by e-mail, visit www.basf.com/usa.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from oil and gas to chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural products and fine chemicals. As a reliable partner, BASF helps its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges, such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF has more than 95,000 employees and posted sales of almost €58 billion in 2007. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.