Page 27 - Plastics News March 2021

FeAtures

interior materials. A single test such as UV resistance and injection molding and foam-in-place instrument panels,
heat aging can typically take up to 21 days to complete, doors, and consoles; then do final assembly and ship the
but we were able to have prototype parts sent to FCA finished product to the customer.
within a month of kicking off the project.”
Could Protect Mass Transit, Medical Devices & Flooring
CpK and a Canadian University had to develop their own According to Farrar, the additive has many applications
biosafety lab to test this new additive.
outside of automotive. “Our patent has 80 claims, with
One of the challenges the team faced was anti-viral the majority of the focus outside of automotive. It could
testing. Most Canadian labs don’t have the infrastructure be used for public transit (buses, subways, planes, etc.),
to handle Biosafety Level 3 viral pathogens like SARS- commercial spaces (flooring, door handles, etc), and
CoV-2. CpK was able to contract the ImPaKT Facility in medical devices.” The company is undertaking the
at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & approval process from Canada’s PMRA and the U.S. EPA for
Dentistry in London, Ont., to collaborate and perform use in auto-interior components. Says Farrar, “This ensures
testing. The ImPaKT Facility is a one-of-a-kind CL2+/ that we have enough data to support our product claims.
CL3 facility with advanced in vivo imaging capabilities, Given that we have been testing on the SARS-CoV-2 strain
which allow researchers and industry to develop tools and directly, we don’t feel that there will be any issue with
methods to better understand the progression of infectious our data. Most labs do not have this virus strain, so the
diseases, identify effective antimicrobial agents, develop lab we chose was strategic.”
diagnostic reagents to characterize hidden reservoirs of CpK is uniquely structured to meet FCA’s challenge as
pathogens, and achieve early and accurate detection of it has the ability to develop, test and manufacture raw
infections. CpK is uniquely structured to meet a challenge materials; use them for injection molding and foam-in-
like this as it has the ability to develop, test, and place instrument panels, doors, and consoles; and do final
manufacture raw materials; use those raw materials for
assembly and ship finished product.

27 March 2021 Plastics News