Engineering Group Honors Innovations in Auto Plastics

Finding inventive ways to reduce weight and cost in vehicles never has been more urgent, and this importance drew an enthusiastic crowd of about 700 auto maker and supplier engineers to the recent annual Automotive Innovation Awards in Livonia, MI. WardsAuto is a media sponsor.

Organized by the Society of Plastics Engineers, the annual awards event now is in its 42^nd year.  Engineers, designers and materials specialists compete in eight key areas that have a major impact on vehicle cost, weight and buyer appeal: Body Exterior, Interior; Chassis/Hardware; Materials; Performance & Customization; Powertrain; Process/Assembly/Enabling Technologies; and Safety.

Here is a brief synopsis of the winners:

• Grand Award: GM CUV soft-skin stitched IP System. General Motors wins both the interior category and grand award for the finely detailed instrument panel in the ’13 Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse and GMC Acadia cross/utility vehicles.
  
  Advanced robotic sewing technology creates a luxurious appearance while saving 15% to 25% in costs compared with non cut-and-sew applications and up to 50% when compared with conventional cut-and-sew leather applications, as well as a 15% weight savings.
  
  Key features are the use of contour stitching on an all-olefin plastic, multi-grained full IP surface with complex geometry.
  
  Also named on the award are suppliers Inteva Products, Adell Plastics, Stahl and Ticona Engineering Polymers/KTX.
   
• Body Exterior Category: Dodge Viper carbon-fiber hood. This big assembly on Chrysler’s ’13 SRT sports car is the largest Class-A carbon-fiber composite part ever supplied to a mainstream auto maker at a volume of up to 3,000 units per year.
  
  It incorporates the car’s front fenders and still is 44% lighter than the previous hood-only assembly made from sheet-molding composite. The lower mass improves weight distribution and lowers the car's center of gravity.
  
  Design, tooling and fabrication technologies from both marine and aerospace were employed for the first time in automotive to facilitate layup of the part’s complex geometry. Integrated mounting points are molded into the inner hood panel.
  
  Suppliers are Plasan Carbon Composites, Umeco plc/Cytec Industries, Toray Carbon Fibers Americas, Ashland and Weber Manufacturing Technologies.
   
• Chassis/Hardware Category: Ford dual-rate air extractor. Integrated within the climate-control system of the ’12 Ford Escape and Edge CUVs, the part features plastic living hinges and plastic torsional springs that function as a 1-way pneumatic valve, allowing air to exit through flaps but reduces the amount of outside noise that can enter the passenger compartment through the extractor.
  
  A 2-shot molding process is used to produce this 1-piece air extractor formed from rigid polypropylene and overmolded with thermoplastic elastomer.
  
  Suppliers are Wegu Manufacturing, Rhetech and Anfe-Moulds.
   
• Materials Category: Controlled crystallization rate that eliminates painting. Greater design freedom without sacrificing engineering characteristics for climate-control system air-vent vanes on the ’13 Ford Escape, Fusion and Lincoln MKZ is achieved by using a partially aromatic injection-molded polyamide 6/6/6i resin to boost modulus without increasing wall thickness or adding glass reinforcement to achieve a high-quality, Class-A surface without paint.
  
  Suppliers are TRW Automotive, Key Plastics, Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Liberty Molds and J&J Tool & Mold.
   
• Performance & Customization Category: Camaro ZL1 carbon composite air extractor. Single-piece carbon-fiber reinforced plastic composite construction with exposed fabric weave provides a lightweight, functional component that increases downforce at high speeds while providing an aesthetically pleasing appearance on the ’12 Chevy Camaro ZL1 sports car.
  
  The air extractor makes extensive use of adhesive bonding to join additional components in alternative materials (a polyamide vent screen and a thermoplastic polyester deflector).
  
  Adhesive bonding also isolates the carbon composite panel from the rest of the aluminum hood, preventing galvanic corrosion.
  
  Suppliers are TransGlobal, deBotech, Umeco, Cytec Industries, BASF and Sabic.
   
• Powertrain: Nissan Altima water outlet assembly. A combination of sequencing, precision timing, multi-slide actions, scientific molding and robotics resulted in a world-class water-outlet assembly injection molded in glass-reinforced polyphthalamide plastic.
  
  Formerly made of metal, this plastic part’s main function is to act as a manifold for the cooling system. It integrates two components into one assembly that features 10 seamless barb ports that feed coolant to and from the transmission cooler, throttle cooler, heater core and oil cooler and provides coolant to the radiator.
  
  The 10 male ports are created without a parting line, which usually is required with conventional injection molding, and are made possible through precision timing of multiple valve gates and multiple slide actions to properly form this complex product.
  
  Suppliers are MPC, Solvay Specialty Polymers and Industrial Molds Group.
   
• Process/Assembly/Enabling Technologies: Direct extrusion of bulb seal on cowl. The application's functional requirements are met by directly extruding a bulb seal onto an air-inlet panel (cowl), and a time-consuming manual installation of the seal is eliminated as a secondary operation.
  
  An extrusion die, mounted to a flexible, heated hose and guided by a robot, quickly and efficiently lays down a thermoplastic vulcanite material profile along the edge of the injection-molded substrate. The fully automated process creates an easily tunable and functional seal that can be handled immediately after extrusion without need for post cure (as with thermoset rubber).
  
  The operation is cost-effective, eliminates a secondary operation, maximizes sealing to the hood interface with excellent dimensional stability, reduces scrap and provides high design freedom and process flexibility. The process is used on Ford’s new ’13 C-Max hybrid-electric vehicle.
  
  Suppliers are Windsor Mold Group, ExxonMobil Chemical and Reis Extrusion.
   
• Safety: Ford Fusion Integrated headlamp/hood bump-stop bracket. Hood bump stops, together with headlamps, provide stiff resistance to the hood structure when impacted, leading to high head impact values during pedestrian-protection testing. The hood material, shape and packaging space also can affect performance.
  
  Traditionally, the hood bump stop and headlamp attachment bracket are designed as separate components. But this new integrated 1-piece plastic bracket combines the function of the hood bump stop and headlamp attachment and offers a more efficient way to meet new pending pedestrian protection requirements.
  
  The injection-molded part is tunable for a wide range of breakaway load levels, can be used on other vehicles, reduces assembly complexity and lowered head-impact criteria values about 30%.
  
  Suppliers are Magna Exterior & Interior, Styron and Advantage Mold.

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