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2008-03-09
Manufacturing News
Plastics sandwich for an automotive powerhouse Plastics in the load floor of the Volkswagen Tiguan made of polyurethane fiber, is a strong and rigid composite design but with a lightweight automotive component load.
Volkswagen claims that its new Tiguan offers both power and economy. To implement an innovative vehicle concept like the new Tiguan, the automotive industry continuously strives to improve systems such as the engine. In support of these measures, using a lightweight plastics component in a vehicle helps to ensure that engine output is effectively transferred to the road, thereby reducing automotive fuel consumption. For example, the loadfloor of the Tiguan is made of a lightweight but very strong and rigid composite plastics element manufactured with the Baypreg F polyurethane spray system from Bayer MaterialScience. The plastics component is of sandwich design: a honeycomb core made of cardboard is covered top and bottom by an outer layer of glass fibers. Baypreg F holds these components together in a strong, permanent bond. Ideal Automotive GmbH, the supplier company based in Bamberg, Germany,
produces the lightweight Tiguan load floors at a Czech plant using the
Composite Spray Molding (CSM) process developed by Hennecke GmbH, Sankt
Augustin, Germany. In this process, the honeycomb core and the glass fiber
mats are first assembled together. The resulting sandwich is then sprayed
on both sides with the liquid Baypreg F reaction mixture. It is then inserted
into a heated mold and compression molded at approximately 130 °C, where
the application of heat triggers the reaction of the two-component polyurethane
system. “In this way, we can obtain components weighing less than three
kilograms per square meter. They are up to 80 percent lighter than corresponding
components made of conventional materials, such as wood or sheet metal,”
says Karsten Muller, polyurethane composites specialist at Bayer MaterialScience. Core competencies:
The finished Tiguan load floor is 80 centimeters long, one meter wide
and two centimeters thick. Its very high flexural strength is attributable
to the fiber reinforced outer layers with a thickness of 0.4 to 0.6 millimeters.
Thanks to a modulus of elasticity in the range of 13,000 megapascals,
the plastics component suffers only moderate deformation even when subjected
to heavy loads. BaySystems, part of Bayer MaterialScience, one the world’s largest polymer companies, produces and supplies the entire range of polyurethane systems, from bonding foam for construction to molded foam systems for upholstery to high-performance elastomers for industrial applications. * Trademark of Bayer MaterialScience a Bayer Group Company. Got a Cool Job in Plastics Molding? - Post Jobs to Dedicated Engineering Job Site Now! See all the Press Releases from Bayer sites. Read a recent article about -
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