ZA200105916B

ZA200105916B - Metallizable moulded part.

Info

Publication number: ZA200105916B
Application number: ZA200105916A
Authority: ZA
Inventors: Ulrich Schutz; Josef Neu; Matthias Bienmuller; Detlev Joachimi
Original assignee: Bayer Ag
Priority date: 1999-02-03
Filing date: 2001-07-18
Publication date: 2002-07-18
Also published as: DE19904217A1

Description

«1% WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 x -1-

Metallizable moulding

The invention relates to metallizable mouldings, processes for their produciton and their use as a component part with integrated electically conductive sections for electrical applications.

Mouldings, processes and uses of component parts of thermoplastics with integrated electrically conductive sections are known in principle.

These component parts are known in the literature as MID (moulded interconnection device). Some patents also relate to a similar technique.

The production of three-dimensional component parts (3-D MID technology) in recent years has chiefly been concentrated on combinations of metallizable (by currentless wet chemistry, electrogalvanically) and non-metallizable polyamides.

Materials which were used in particular here were PA12 as the non-metallizable component and polyamides based on g-caprolactam and/or hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid as the metallizable component, the two components being employed in the form of glass fibre-reinforced compounds in most cases.

DE 44 16 986 thus describes a process for the production of a specific component part of a non-metallizable or poorly metallizable plastic K1 from the group consisting of PA6, PA66, PAl1, PA12 and PPA and a metallizable plastic K2 from the group consisting of PA6, PA66, PA66/6, PMMA, ABS, PVC, PU and UP.

This technical solution has various disadvantages. Inter alia, the water uptake of the polyamide under certain circumstances lead to the formation of bubbles during IR soldering and a lack of dimensional stability and thermal dimensional stability, especially at temperatures of about 50°C. Another disadvantage is that in mouldings produced, for example, by 2-component injection moulding, PA12 often adheres wT WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 1 2. inadequately at the interface to the second polyamide component. The higher costs of

PA12 compared with PA6 are furthermore disadvantages of the above material combination for 3-D MID. An undesirable uptake of water or moisture can also occur in component parts of the material combination of PA12/PA6, under certain circumstances having an adverse influence on the anchoring at the interface of the two materials. For these reasons, alternatives are sought for the non-galvanizable component, in particular PA12. Constant electrical and mechanical properties (e.g. rigidity) and stability, e.g. to chemicals, play a prominent role here.

Partly aromatic polyamides e.g. are non-metallizable under the conditions typical for

PA6. However, the reinforcement of such polyamides with glass fibres, which is necessary to achieve an adequate rigidity and similar shrinkage ratios, such as e.g. in the case of glass fibre-reinforced PA6, leads to galvanizability in part of corresponding moulding surfaces. Durethan T40 (commercial product from Bayer

AG, partly aromatic polyamide, moulding composition code according to ISO 1874:

PA6I,MT,12-030), which is not metallizable under the conventional conditions for

PAG, thus becomes galvanizable in part by melt compounding with 30% glass fibres, so that the material is unsuitable as an alternative to PA12.

It is furthermore known that partly aromatic polyesters, such as, for example, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), and polyamides (PA) are insoluble in one another in the melt and therefore show no miscibility. Because of this incompatibility, no blends of polyester (including PBT) and PA (including PA6) of commercial importance are as yet known (Z. Xiaochuan et al, Polymers and Polymer Composites, vol. 5, no. 7, 1997, p. 501 — 505). For this reason indeed, also no PBT / PA blends are mentioned in Kunststoff Handbuch Polyamide 3 / 4, Carl Hanser Verlag, 1998,

ISBN 3-446-16486-3, p. 131 — 165. It has therefore been assumed to date that combinations of PBT and PA are unsuitable in two-component injection moulding for 3-D MID applications.

A

RIN AS WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 1 4 -3-

It has been found, surprisingly, that a combination of PBT as the non-metallizable component and PA6 as the metallizable component does not have the abovementioned disadvantages for 3-D MID components in the injection moudling process. The preferred metallizing process here is the Baygamid® process (process of

Bayer AG).

The Application accordingly relates to a moulding comprising at least two thermoplastics K (I) and K (II), at least one plastic K (I) being a partly aromatic polyester and at least one plastic K (II) being a polyamide.

It is a particular feature here that the two plastics do not mix with one another and form blurred interfaces under the conventional process conditions of plastics processing. This would considerably impair the precision of the metallization. It is therefore preferable if the plastic or plastics K (I) and the plastic or plastics K (II) are present macroscopically in separate phases to the extent of more than 90 wt.%, based on the particular type of plastic.

The partly aromatic polyester according to the invention is chosen from the group consisting of derivatives of polyalkylidene terephthalates, preferably chosen from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalates, polytrimethylene terephthalates and polybutylene terephthalates, particularly preferably polybutylene terephthalates, very : particularly preferably polybutylene terephthalate.

Partly aromatic polyesters is understood as meaning materials which also contain aliphatic molecular moieties in addition to aromatic molecular moities.

Polyalkylene terephthalates in the context of the invention are reaction products of aromatic dicarboxylic acids or their reactive derivatives (e.g. dimethyl esters or anhydrides) and aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or araliphatic diols and mixtures of these reaction products.

AE WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 1 J -4-

Preferred polyalkylene terephthalates can be prepared from terephthalic acid (or its reactive derivatives) and aliphatic or cycloaliphatic diols having 2 to 10 C atoms by known methods (Kunststoff-Handbuch, vol. VIII, p. 695 et seq., Karl-Hanser-Verlag,

Munich 1973).

Preferred polyalkylene terephthalates contain at least 80, preferably 90 mol%, based on the dicarboxylic acid, of terephthalic acid radicals and at least 80, preferbaly at least 90 mol%, based on the diol component, of ethylene glycol and/or propane-1,3- diol and/or butane-1,4-diol radicals.

In addition to terephthalic acid radicals, the preferred polyalkylene terephthalates can contain up to 20 mol% of radicals of other aromatic dicarboxylic acids having 8 to 14

C atoms or aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having 4 to 12 C atoms, such as radicals of phthalic acid, isophthalic acid, naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid, 4,4'- diphenyldicarboxylic acid, succinic, adipic, sebacic or azelaic acid or cyclohexanediacetic acid.

In addition to ethylene glycol or propane-1,3-diol or butane-1,4-diol radicals, the preferred polyalkylene terephthalates can contain up to 20 mol% of other aliphatic diols having 3 to 12 C atoms or cycloaliphatic diols having 6 to 21 C atoms, e.g. radicals of propane-1,3-diol, 2-ethylpropane-1,3-diol, neopentylglycol, pentane-1,5- : diol, hexane-1,6-diol, cyclohexane-1,4-dimethanol, 3-methylpentane-2,4-diol, 2- methylpentane-2,4-diol, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane-1,3- and -1,6-diol, 2-ethylhexane-1,3- diol, 2,2-diethylpropane-1,3-diol, hexane-2,5-diol, 1,4-di-(B-hydroxyethoxy)- benzene, 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxycyclohexyl)-propane, 2,4-dihydroxy-1,1,3,3-tetramethyl- cyclobutane, 2,2-bis-(3-8-hydroxyethoxyphenyl)-propane and 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxypro- poxyphenyl)-propane (DE-OS 24 07 674, 24 07 776, 27 15 932).

The polyalkylene terephthalates can be branched by incorporation of relatively small amounts of 3- or 4-hydric alcohols or 3- or 4-basic carboxylic acids, such as are described e.g. in DE-OS 19 00 270 and US-PS 3 692 744. Examples of preferred de WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 branching agents are trimesic acid, trimellitic acid, trimethylolethane and -propane and pentaerythritol.

It is advisable to use not more than 1 mol% of the branching agent, based on the acid component.

Polyalkylene terephthalates which have been prepared solely from terephthalic acid and reactive derivatives thereof (e.g. dialkyl esters thereof) and ethylene glycol and/or propane-1,3-diol and/or butane-1,4-diol (polyethylene terephthalate and polybutylene terephpthalate) and mixtures of these polyalkylene terephthalates are particularly preferred.

Copolyesters which are prepared from at least two of the abovementioned acid components and/or from at least two of the abovementioned alcohol components are also preferred polyalkylene terephthalates, and particularly preferred copolyesters are poly-(ethylene glycol/butane-1,4-diol)-terephthalates.

The polyalkylene terephthalates in general have an intrinsic viscosity of approx. 0.4 to 1.5, preferably 0.5 to 1.3, in each case measured in phenol/o-dichlorobenzene (1:1 parts by wt.) at 25°C.

The partly aromatic polyesters can furthermore comprise additives, such as e.g fillers and reinforcing substances, such as e.g. glass fibres or mineral fillers, flameproofing agents, processing auxiliaries, stabilizers, flow auxiliaries, antistatics, dyestuffs, pigments and other conventional additives.

Fibrous or particulate fillers and reinforcing substances which can be added for the moulding compositions according to the invention are glass fibres, glass beads, glass fabric, glass mats, carbon fibres, aramid fibres, potassium titanate fibres, natural fibres, amorphous silica, magnesium carbonate, barium sulfate, feldspar, mica, silicates, quartz, talc, kaolin, titanium dioxide, wollastonite and the like, which can wo WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 also be treated on the surface. Commercially available glass fibres are preferred reinforcing substances. The glass fibres, which in general have a fibre diameter of between 8 and 18 um, can be added as continuous fibres or as cut or ground glass fibres, it being possible for the fibres to be finished with a suitable size system and an adhesion promoter or adhesion promoter system, ¢.g. based on silane.

Needle-shaped mineral fillers are also suitable. Needle-shaped mineral fillers is understood in the context of the invention as meaning a mineral filler with a highly pronounced needle-shaped character. Needle-shaped wollastonite may be mentioned as an example. The mineral preferably has an L/D (length/diameter) ratio of 8:1 to 35:1, preferably 8:1 to 11:1. The mineral filler can optionally be treated on the surface.

The polyester moulding composition preferably comprises 0 to 50 parts by wt., preferaby 0 - 40, in particular 10 - 30 parts by wt. of added fillers and reinforcing substances. Polyester moulding compositions without fillers and/or reinforcing substances can also be used.

Suitable flameproofing agents are commercially available organic compounds or halogen compounds with synergists or commercially available organic nitrogen compounds or organic/inorganic phosphorus compounds. Mineral flameproofing additives, such as magnesium hydroxide or Ca-Mg carbonate hydrates (e.g. DE-OS 4 236 122), can also be employed. Examples of halogen-containing, in particular brominated and chlorinated compounds which may be mentioned are: ethylene-1,2- bistetrabromophthalimide, epoxidized tetrabromobisphenol A resin, tetra- bromobisphenol A oligocarbonate, tetrachlorobisphenol A oligocarbonate, penta- bromopolyacrylate and brominated polystyrene. Suitable organic phopshorus compounds are the phosphorus compounds according to WQO98/17720 (PCT/EP/05705), e.g. triphenyl phosphate (TPP), resorcinol bis-(diphenyl phosphate), including oligomers (RDP), and bisphenol A bis-diphenyl phosphate, including oligomers (BDP), melamine phosphate, melamine pyrophosphate,

a eo WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 melamine polyphosphate and mixtures thereof. Possible nitrogen compounds are, in particular, melamine and melamine cyanurate. Suitable synergists are e.g. antimony compounds, in particular antimony trioxide and antimony pentoxide, zinc compounds, tin compounds, such as e.g zinc stannate, and borates. Carbon-forming agents and tetrafluoroethylene polymers can be added.

The partly aromatic polyesters according to the invention can comprise conventional additives, such as agents against thermal decomposition, agents against thermal crosslinking, agents against damage caused by ultraviolet light, plasticizers, lubricants and mould release agents, nucleating agents, antistatics, stabilizers and dyestuffs and pigments.

Examples of oxidation retardants and heat stabilizers which are mentioned are sterically hindered phenols and/or phosphites, hydroquinones, aromatic secondary amines, such as diphenylamines, various substituted representatives of these groups and mixtures thereof, in concentrations of up to 1 wt.%, based on the weight of the thermoplastic moulding compositions.

UV stabilizers, which are in general used in amounts of up to 2 wt.%, based on the moulding composition, which may be mentioned are various substituted resorcinols, salicylates, benzotriazoles and benzophenones.

Inorganic pigments, such as titanium dioxide, ultramarine blue, iron oxide and carbon black, and furthermore organic pigments, such as phthalocyanines, quinacridones, perylenes, and dyestuffs, such as nigrosin and anthraquinone, as colouring agents, and other colouring agents can be added.

Sodium phenyl-phosphinate, aluminium oxide, silicon dioxide and, preferably, talc can be employed e.g. as nucleating agents.

wo a WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 of _8-

Lubricants and mould release agents, which are conventionally employed in amounts of up to 1 wt.%, are preferably ester waxes, pentaerithrytol stearate (PETS), long- chain fatty acids (e.g. stearic acid or behenic acid), salts thereof (e.g. Ca or Zn stearate) and amide derivatives (e.g. ethylene-bis-stearylamide) or montan waxes (mixtures of straight-chain, saturated carboxylic acids having chain lengths of 28 to 32 C atoms) and low molecular weight polyethylene waxes or polypropylene waxes.

Examples of plasticizers which may be mentioned are dioctyl phthalate, dibenzyl phthalate, butyl benzyl phthalate, hydrocarbon oils and N-(n- butyl)benzenesulfonamide.

The additional use of rubber-elastic polymers (often also called impact modifiers, elastomer or rubber) is particularly preferred.

Quite generally, these are copolymers which are preferably built up from at least two of the following monomers: ethylene, propylene, butadiene, isobutene, isoprene, chloroprene, vinyl acetate, styrene, acrylonitrile and acrylic or methacrylic acid esters having 1 to 18 C atoms in the alcohol component.

Such polymers are described e.g. in Houben-Weyl, Methoden der organischen

Chemie, vol. 14/1 (Georg-Thieme-Verlag, Stuttgart, 1961), pages 392 to 406 and in the monograph by C.B. Bucknall, "Toughened Plastics" (Applied Science Publishers,

London, 1977).

Some preferred types of such elastomers are described in the following,

Preferred types of such elastomers are the so-called ethylene/propylene (EPM) or ethylene/propylene/diene (EPDM) rubbers.

EPM rubbers in general have practically no more double bonds, while EPDM rubbers can contain 1 to 20 double bonds per 100 C atoms.

. > WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 «4 9.

Diene monomers which may be mentioned for EPDM rubbers are, for example, conjugated dienes, such as isoprene and butadiene, non-conjugated dienes having 5 to 25 C atoms, such as penta-1,4-diene, hexa-1,4-diene, hexa-1,5-diene, 2,5- dimethylhexa-1,5-diene and octa-1,4-diene, cyclic dienes, such as cyclopentadiene, cyclohexadienes, cyclooctadienes and dicyclopentadiene, and alkenylnorbornenes, such as S-ethylidene-2-norbornene, 5-butylidene-2-norbornene, 2-methallyl-5- norbornene, 2-i1sopropenyl-5-norbornene, and tricyclodienes, such as 3-methyl- tricyclo-(5.2.1.0.2.6)-3,8-decadiene, or mixtures thereof. Hexa-1,5-diene, 5- ethylidenenorbornene and dicyclopentadiene are preferred. The diene content of the

EPDM rubbers is preferably 0.5 to 50, in particular 1 to 8 wt.%, based on the total weight of the rubber.

EPM or EPDM rubbers can preferably also be grafted with reactive carboxylic acids or derivatives thereof. There may be mentioned here e.g. acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and derivatives thereof, e.g. glycidyl (meth)acrylate, and maleic anhydride.

Another group of preferred rubbers are copolymers of ethylene with acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid and/or the esters of these acids. The rubbers can additionally also comprise dicarboxylic acids, such as maleic acid and fumaric acid, or derivatives of these acids, e.g. esters and anhydrides, and/or monomers containing epoxide groups. These dicarboxylic acid derivatives or monomers containing epoxide groups : are preferably incorporated into the rubber by addition of monomers containing dicarboxylic acid or epoxide groups, of the general formulae (I) or (II) or (I) or (IV), to the monomer mixture

RIC(COOR2) = C(COOR3)R#4 D

RN ec

L (I),

CO, CO

EE WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445

J -10- /\

CHR=CH—(CH,)=—0—(CHR%q—CH—CHR® (I), — CRY SE —CH— 8

CH; CR COO—(-CH,)p XN a av),

Oo wherein R' to R’ represent hydrogen or alkyl groups having 1 to 6 C atoms and m is an integer from 0 to 20, g is an integer from 0 to 10 and p is an integer from 0 to S.

Preferably, the radicals R' to R® denote hydrogen, where m represents O or 1 and g represents 1. The corresponding compounds are maleic acid, fumaric acid, maleic anhydride, allyl glycidyl ether and vinyl glycidyl ether.

Preferred compounds of the formulae (I), (II) and (IV) are maleic acid, maleic anhydride and esters of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid containing epoxide groups, such as glycidyl acrylate and glycidyl methacrylate, and the esters with tertiary alcohols, such as t-butyl acrylate. The latter indeed contain no free carboxyl groups, but come close in their properties to the free acids and are therefore called monomers with latent carboxyl groups.

The copolymers advantageously comprise 50 to 98 wt.% ethylene, 0.1 to 20 wt.% monomers containing epoxide groups and/or methacrylic acid and/or monomers containing acid anhydride goups and the the remaining amount as (meth)acrylic acid esters.

Particularly preferred copolymers are those of 50 to 98, in particular 55 to 95 wt.% ethylene,

SE WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 4 -11- 0.1 to 40, in particular 0.3 to 20 wt% glycidyl acrylate and/or glycidyl methacrylate, (meth)acrylic acid and/or maleic anhydride, and 1 to 45, in particular 10 to 40 wt.% n-butyl acrylate and/or 2-ethylhexyl acrylate.

Further preferred esters of acrylic and/or methacrylic acid are the methyl, ethyl, propyl and i- or t-butyl ester.

In addition, vinyl esters and vinyl ethers can also be employed as comonomers.

The ethylene copolymers described above can be prepared by processes known per se, preferably by random copolymerization under a high pressure and elevated temperature. Corresponding processes are generally known.

Emulsion polymers, the preparation of which is described e.g. by Blackley in the monograph "Emulsion Polymerization", are also preferred. The emulsifiers and catalysts which can be used are known per se.

In principle, homogeneously built up elastomers and also those with a shell structure can be employed. The shell structure is determined by the sequence of addition of the = individual monomers; the morphology of the polymers is also influenced by this sequence of addition.

Monomers which may be mentioned here merely representatively for the preparation of the rubber part of the elastomers are acrylates, such as e.g. n-butyl acrylate and 2- ethylhexyl acrylate, corresponding methacrylates, butadiene and isoprene and mixtures thereof. These monomers can be copolymerized with further monomers, such as e.g. styrene, acrylonitrile, vinyl ethers and further acrylates or methacrylates, such as methyl methacrylate, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate and propyl acrylate.

oo WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 4 -12-

The soft or rubber phase (with a glass transition temperature below 0°C) of the elastomers can be the core, the outer shell or a middle shell (in the case of elastomers with more than a two-shell structure); in multi-shell elastomers, it is also possible for several shells to consist of one rubber phase.

If one or more hard components (with glass transition temperatures above 20°C) participate, in addtion to the rubber phase, in the build-up of the elastomers, these are in general prepared by polymerization of styrene, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, a- methylstyrene, p-methylstyrene and acrylic acid esters and methacrylic acid esters, such as methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate, as the main monomers. In addition, minor amounts of further comonomers can also be employed here.

In some cases it has proved advantageous to employ emulstion polymers which have reactive groups on the surface. Such groups are e.g. epoxide, carboxyl, latent carboxyl, amino or amide groups and functional groups which can be introduced by co-using monomers of the general formula

R' R'

SP SE PS

Oo wherein the substituents can have the following meaning:

R'" hydrogen or a C;- to C4-alkyl group,

R''" hydrogen, a C;- to Cg-alkyl group or an aryl group, in particular phenyl,

R!? hydrogen, a C,- to Cj¢-alkyl or a C¢- to C;,-aryl group or -OR",

a . WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 "| “13 -

R'? a C;- to Cg-alkyl or Ce- to Ciz-aryl group, which can optionally be substituted by O- or N-containing groups,

X a chemical bond, a C;- to Cg-alkylene or a C¢- to C,;-arylene group or i —C—Y

Y O-Z or NH-Z and

Z a C;- to C¢-alkylene or a C¢- to C),-arylene group.

The grafting monomers described in EP-A 208 187 are also suitable for introducing reactive groups on to the surface.

Further examples which may also be mentioned are acrylamide, methacrylamide and substituted esters of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid, such as (N-t-butylamino)-ethyl methacrylate, (N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl acrylate, (N,N-dimethylamino)-methyl acrylate and (N,N-diethylamino)ethyl acrylate.

The particles of the rubber phase may furthermore also be crosslinked. Monomers which act as crosslinking agents are, for example, buta-1,3-diene, divinylbenzene, diallyl phthalate and dihydrodicyclopentadienyl acrylate, as well as the compounds described in EP-A 50 265).

So-called graftlinking monomers can furthermore also be used, i.e. monomers with two or more polymerizable double bonds which react at different rates during the polymerization. Those compounds in which at least one reactive group polymerizes at about the same rate as the other monomers, while the other reactive group (or reactive groups) e.g. polymerizes (polymerize) significantly more slowly, are preferably used. The different polymerization rates have the effect of a certain content of unsaturated double bonds in the rubber. If another phase is then grafted on to such a rubber, the double bonds present in the rubber thus at least partly react with the grafting monomers to form chemical bonds, i.e. the grafted-on phase is at least partly linked to the graft base via chemical bonds.

Examples of such graftlinking monomers are monomers containing allyl groups, in particular allyl esters of ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids, such as allyl acrylate, allyl methacrylate, diallyl maleate, diallyl fumarate, diallyl itaconate or the corresponding monoallyl compounds of these dicarboxylic acids. In addition, there are a large number of further suitable graftlinking monomers; for further details reference may be made here, for example, to US-PS 4 148 846.

The content of these crosslinking monomers in the impact-modifying polymer is in general up to 5 wt.%, preferably not more than 3 wt.%, based on the impact- modifying polymer.

Some preferred emulsion polymers are listed in the following. Graft polymers which have a core and at least one outer shell and have the following build-up are to be mentioned first here:

Monomers for the core Monomers for the shell buta-1,3-diene, isoprene, n-butyl | styrene, acrylonitrile, methyl methacrylate acrylate, ethyl-hexyl acrylate or mixtures thereof as I, but with the co-use of crosslinking as I agents aslorll n-butyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, methyl acrylate, buta-1,3-diene, isoprene, ethylhexyl acrylate

Iv aslorll as I or III, but with the co-use of monomers with reactive groups as described herein \Y styrene, acrylonitrile, methyl | first shell of monomers as described for methacrylate or mixtures thereof the core under I and II second shell as described for the shell under I or IV

Claims

Ble see WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 ¢ _39. Patent claims

1. Moulding comprising at least two thermoplastics K (I) and K (I), characterized in that at least one plastic K (I) is a partly aromatic polyester and at least one plastic K (II) is a polyamide.

2. Moulding according to claim 1, characterized in that the plastic or plastics K (I) and the plastic or plastics K (II) are present macroscopically in separate phases to the extent of more than 90 wt.%, based on the particular type of plastic.

3. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the partly aromatic polyester is chosen from the group consisting of derivatives of polyalkylidene terephthalates, preferably chosen from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalates, polytrimethylene terephthalates and polybutylene terephthalates, particularly preferably polybutylene terephthalates, very particularly preferably polybutylene terephthalate.

4, Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the polyamide is chosen from the group consisting of derivatives of polyamides which contain 3 to 8 methylene groups in the polymer chain per = polyamide group, particularly preferably chosen from the group formed by : PA6 and PAG66, very particularly preferably from the group consisting of PA6 and its copolymers.

5. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that part of the surface is metallized and/or galvanized, preferably metallized by a currentless wet chemistry means, particularly preferably metallized by a currentless wet chemistry means and then electrogalvanically, preferably less than 98%, particularly preferably less than 70%, very particularly preferably less than 40%.

re pe WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 ¢ -40 -

6. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that only one of the two plastics K (I) and K (II) is metallized, preferably metallized by a currentless wet chemistry means, particularly preferably metallized by a currentless wet chemistry means and then electrogalvanically, hl preferably plastic K (II), particularly preferably the polyamide part of plastic K (I).

7. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the weight ratio between plastic K (I) and K (II) is greater than 10:90, preferably greater than 50:50, particularly preferably greater than 70:30, very particularly preferably between 80:20 and 99:1.

8. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that one of the two or both plastics or mixtures of plastics K (I) or K (II) comprise one or more reinforcing substances V (I) in plastic K (I), or one or more reinforcing substances V (II) in plastic K (II), preferably in amounts of between 1 and 50 wt.%, preferably between 2 and 40 wt.%, particularly preferably between 5 and 35 wt.%, in each case based on the total weight of the particular plastics moulding compositions.

9. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in - that the two plastics comprise reinforcing substances, preferably in a weight ratio of V (I) to V (II) of between 90:10 and 10:90, particularly preferably between 70:30 and 30:70, very particularly preferably between 60:40 and 40:60, and extremely preferably between 55:45 and 45:55.

10. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the two plastics comprise glass fibres, preferably in a weight ratio of V (I) to V (II) of between 90:10 and 10:90, particularly preferably between 70:30 and 30:70, very particularly preferably between 60:40 and 40:60, and extremely preferably between 55:45 and 45:55.

oh WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 ¢ -4] -

11. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that one of the two or both plastics or mixtures of plastics K (I) or K (II) comprise one or more elastomer modifying agents E (I) in plastic K (I), or one or more elastomer modifying agents E (II) in plastic K (II), preferably in amounts of between 0 and 40 wt.%, preferably between 0 and 30 wt.%, particularly preferably between 3 and 20 wt.%, in each case based on the total weight of the particular plastics moulding compositions.

12. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that plastic K (I) is a glass fibre-reinforced PBT and plastic K (II) is a glass fibre-reinforced, elastomer-modified PA, plastic K (I) and K (II) in each case preferably comprising 10 - 30 wt.% of glass fibres and plastic K (II) preferably comprising 3 - 10 wt.% of elastomer modifying agent, based on the total weight of the particular plastic moulding compositions.

13. Moulding according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that either plastic K (I) and/or plastic K (II) also additionally comprises further conventional additives in amounts of up to 5 wt.%, based on the particular plastic.

14. Process for the production of a moulding according to at least one of claims 1 = to 13, characterized in that (A) a plastic K (I) or K (II) is first introduced into a mould so that a partial shaped article T (I) or T (II) is formed, and (B) the other plastic K (II) or K (I) is then applied at least at one point of the surface of the partial shaped article, the process preferably being two-component injection moulding.

15. Process according to claim 14, characterized in that, in an additional step, part of the surface of the shaped article is metallized, preferably metallized by a currentless wet chemistry means, particularly preferably metallized by a currentless wet chemistry means and then metallized electrogalvanically, this co WO 00/46419 PCT/EP00/00445 <4 y = 42 = additional step being carried out between steps (A) and (B), or preferably after the two steps.

16. Process according to at least one of the preceding claims 14 and/or 15, characterized in that the metallization step, preferably of the metallizable plastic K (II), comprises the following steps: chemical roughening of the surface, preferably with a calcium chloride solution, deposition of an activator, preferably palladium ions, sensitizz:ion, preferably by reducing the palladium cations to palladium, chemica! deposition of a conductive material, preferably nickel or copper, electrochemical conversion (galvanization) and possibly build-up of further layers.

17. Process according to at least one of the preceding claims 14 to 16, characterized in that it is carried out by at least one two-component injection : moulding process and subsequent metallization.

18. A moulding substantially as herein described.

19. A process for the production of a moulding substantially as herein described. AMENDED SHEET