Nowadays, the new car is released, and “lightweight” has become the absolute focus! In the product introduction, there are always descriptions such as “lightweight body technology” and “10% weight reduction of the whole vehicle”. In order to achieve lightweight, in addition to optimizing the structure and process design, mostly around the material selection.

Generally, the specific gravity of plastic is 0.9-1.6, and the specific gravity of glass fiber reinforced composite is less than 2.0, while A3 steel is 7.6, brass is 8.4, and aluminum is 2.7. Therefore, although it is not as strong as carbon fiber or metal material in strength, the weight reduction effect of plastic is the best in terms of specific gravity, and it is the material of choice for lightweight vehicles. The use of plastic can reduce the weight of parts by about 40%, and the power, comfort and safety of the car can be improved. In the future, its innovative applications have the potential to subvert traditional cars.

Three ways to make the car lose weight

The newly revised National Passenger Compulsory Standard for Passenger Vehicle Fuel Consumption Limits will be implemented from January 1, 2016. The fuel consumption will be set to a standard value every year until the average fuel consumption of passenger cars in 2020 falls to 5.0 liters/100. Kilometers. Increasingly stringent fuel consumption regulations have prompted all automakers to spare no effort to develop automotive lightweight technology.

Lightweight vehicles are not simply weight-reducing, but they also need to take into account factors such as product function, cost and quality. In terms of “plasticizing steel”, there are three main ways: optimizing material quality; modularization and integration; and structural optimization design.

Material quality is the most critical

Foreign automotive brands are now using high-performance engineering plastics and plastic composites on a large scale. In the future, the doors, roofs, seat components, wheels and structural components of the car, and even the body of the car, may be converted to engineering plastics. The body made of fiber reinforced composite plastic material can reduce weight by 35% compared with steel body; if carbon fiber reinforced composite material is used, it can reduce weight by more than 60%.

Honeycomb sandwich construction has been widely used in automotive interiors, including trunk floor, roof lining and rear window sill. The new Mercedes-Benz smart fortwo uses BASF's ElastoflexE polyurethane foam in a honeycomb sandwich roof. The canopy module consists of a honeycomb sandwich and fiberglass liner, which is about 30% lighter than a normal canopy, but still maintains good strength and strength. Bending stiffness.

The Polypropylene-based continuous fiber reinforced composite material Tepex dynalite, which is a subsidiary of the LANXESS subsidiary Bond-Laminates, also presents significant opportunities in lightweight automotive production, especially in large components with high strength requirements, such as: The trunk floor, the electric vehicle range extender housing and the seat assembly.

Modular production has become a trend

Plastics have obvious advantages in terms of modularity and integration. Many components and systems, such as side door systems, instrument panel systems, and engine systems, have been modularized. The integrated module front end structure enhanced by the all-plastic frame and partial metal inserts can achieve 30% weight reduction, and can greatly reduce the number of parts and improve assembly efficiency. It is reported that BMW, Mercedes-Benz, GM, Renault, logo and many other European and American companies have matured the application of front-end modules and door module technology.

Structural optimization design can not be ignored

Structural optimization design is also an important way to reduce weight, and to carry out structural shape and size design under the premise of meeting the process requirements. For example, the thin wall development of the bumper, the conventional design is 3.0MM wall thickness, using ordinary PP talcum powder material, the weight of a single piece is 4-5kg. According to Xiong Fei, chief engineer of Geely Automobile Research Institute, Geely uses 2.5mm wall thickness design, high rigidity PP material, and the weight loss of single piece is 10%-15%. At the same time, he pointed out that to achieve lightweight can not be limited to materials, only the material department of the car factory to participate in the vehicle design, can effectively promote the application of new materials and new processes. In other words, performance and design are fundamental to the car, and materials are developed around these two points, on the basis of which lightweighting is achieved, resulting in better fuel efficiency and performance attributes of the vehicle.

Innovative craft to escort

Long glass fiber reinforced composite materials, carbon fiber reinforced composite materials, and modified low-density, micro-foaming, thin-walled plastic materials are hot topics in automotive materials research. The development and application of these materials are inseparable from the support of innovative processes.

Long fiber injection molding is an innovative process for lightweight structural parts. The long fiber developed by Arbug is directly injected into the molten plastic by a servo motor driven feeder. The continuous fiber can be cut into lengths of 15-50mm. The two-stage screw ensures the melting of plastic particles. At the same time, the fibers are fed to ensure uniform mixing, and the purpose of increasing the strength is truly achieved. For example, direct injection molding of long fibers in an automobile airbag casing can be directly injection molded with 16 mm glass fiber, and 50% of the glass fiber length can be greater than 2 mm, which is much better than injection molding of long fiber pellets.

Ingers Molding (China) Co., Ltd. exhibited its new FLEXflow servo-driven valve gate system at CHINAPLAS 2015, especially for automotive large-scale plastic parts, high-quality optics, high-performance engineering materials, and narrow process windows. Injection molding application. In terms of cost savings, the clamping force can be reduced by about 20%, and the weight of the plastic parts can be reduced by up to 5%.

The use of MuCell microfoam injection molding technology in automotive manufacturing is becoming increasingly popular. According to media reports, Land Rover plans to use MuCell technology on all models by 2017. Microcellular foaming refers to the use of a thermoplastic material as a matrix, through a special processing process, the intermediate layer of the product is densely packed with closed micropores having a size of ten to several tens of micrometers. The MuCell process is particularly advantageous in terms of weight reduction, with a weight reduction of up to 10%, a cycle time reduction of 50%, and an average cost reduction of 16%-20%, while maintaining the structural strength of the part. As early as 2000, on the basis of cooperation with MIT, Trexel first used this technology to achieve commercial application. Many world-renowned equipment and raw material manufacturers, including Arbug, Demag, Engel, Husky, Dupont, etc., have purchased patent rights for this technology. In order to achieve the goal of lightweighting, MuCell will continue to be the technology of the industry in the future.

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