Assessment of emissions behaviour of Volatile compounds from polymeric materials used in automobile interiors

There is an increasing trend of using polymeric materials in the vehicle interior compartment. While the polymers provide benefits in terms of flexibility in profiling, lighter weight and aesthetics but one of the challenges with the polymers is emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during their usage and particularly at a temperature prevailing in the vehicle cabin. VOCs adversely impact the vehicle interior air quality and can pose a risk to occupants’ health. However, there is a lack of information on volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from automotive interior materials. There are two types of methods, a whole vehicle chamber method (ISO 12219-1) and a bag method (ISO 12219-2) for evaluation of VOCs emissions from materials used in vehicle interior parts. ISO 12219-2 method describes quantitative testing of VOCs and semi-VOCs. This test method is quick and cost effective for analysis of materials for quick emission checks and can prove to be very effective in selecting the material during the product development stage. In this paper, analysis of VOCs emissions from different types of foam which are typically used in the interior of automobiles is presented. This information can be very useful for material/ component manufacturers and for vehicle design engineers for selecting a candidate material for use in the vehicle interior at the design stage itself.