The excellent crash behaviour of thermoplastic composites is key

Bumper brackets and tailgates are the essential applications in the vehicle exterior which have already been standard applications for many years now. It is primarily the behaviour in crash conditions, besides the structural tasks, which is crucial to these components. Our long-fibre reinforced and continuous filament reinforced thermoplastic materials provide excellent toughness. This specific property ensures a ductile behaviour with no tendency to splinter if the components are forced to face a crash situation.

Long fibre reinforcement and continuous filament reinforcement also have the key advantage for the components mentioned that this ductile behaviour is maintained even at low temperatures and does not demonstrate the low-temperature brittleness typical of and feared on non-reinforced and short fibre-reinforced polymers. Unfortunately, this low-temperature brittleness of non- or short-fibre reinforced materials has frequently resulted in resubstitution by metallic materials.

The trends in exterior applications extend through to a modular design in the roof area, thus overcoming the separation between exterior and interior application. In addition, the development trend leads towards components not necessarily requiring painting on all exterior surfaces. This can be done using various outer skin materials with corresponding reinforcement materials underneath. With our thermoplastic composites, we are involved in creating solutions suitable for large-scale series production.



Components can be laminated in one step directly with various decor materials

An essential distinction must be made between semi-structural and structural parts on the one hand and trim parts on the other for interior vehicle applications. Components such as dashboards and seat structures have already been used for many years, while door modules have also been added to the list of realised applications, recently. Here, as well as in other sectors, development is moving towards a modular design, for example in the field of cockpit systems.

Trim components such as roofliner, door trim, pillar cover and trunk liners are well known as visible parts in the vehicle, but also the more stressed components such as parcel shelves and load floors are falling under this category. Natural fibres reinforcements are also used in this field besides glass fibres. The option of laminating these materials in one step directly with a textile decoration layer offers interesting technical and economic advantages over conventional technologies.



Weight reduction and enhanced acoustics

Like the exterior automotive applications, the applications beneath the bonnet are focused on structural characteristics and behaviour in crash situations. Spare-wheel pans, underbody panelling/shielding and parts of the chassis are the components used in series production.

Underbody shielding is designed to meet the various requirements in accordance with the various vehicle segments, from pure aerodynamic panelling and trim through to hard off-road operation. Weight reduction with enhanced acoustics will be the development trends in the years to come. The spare-wheel pans made in GMT have now become a standard component for various car manufacturers. Besides the weight saving, they also offer cost advantages and feature a very high level of functional integration.

Initial applications in the chassis sector bear witness to the excellent suitability of the continuous filament-reinforced grades/materials in comparison with aluminium. Besides weight advantages, these materials primarily offer clear advantages in the sector of fatigue strength. Here as well, the trend is towards modularisation through to complete floor modules «from bumper to bumper».