Altuglass
The “Limovian” — from the mind of the great Michel Gondry.
Altuglas International, a subsidiary of the Arkema Group is a partner of the film Mood Indigo, directed by Michel Gondry. This is the film adaptation of the eponymous book of the french author Boris Vian published in 1947.
Gondry is said to have combined futuristic and surreal ideas, one of which was the “Limovian”, a fully transparent limousine. Altuglas International provided nanostructured Altuglas ShieldUp produced in St Avold (57) for the car.
A design team from Peugeot spent more than six months assembling the limousine, reportedly grafting pieces and accessories from a Peugeot 404.
The transparent parts were made from Altuglas ShieldUp. This acrylic (polymethylmethacrylate) combines two components — PMMA and an elastomer, structured at nanoscale — which provides transparency along with mechanical and chemical resistance, according to the group.
The product is the result of ten years of research and won last year's Potier prize for innovation.
Material for the parts was either heated to 180°C for fifteen minutes to be softened. Some was then forced under vacuum pressure and some was blown with compressed air (8 bar) to form the different elements.