Carbon fiber-aluminum alloy hybrid structure body, carbon fiber composite structural parts manufacturer JSHR Carbon Fiber Technology Group uses SMC molding process (Sheet Molding Compound abbreviation, that is, sheet molding compound) to make automotive front protection decorative panels.
The front bumper decorative panel is a part that constitutes the car bumper assembly. The front and rear ends of the car are equipped with bumpers, which not only have decorative functions, but more importantly are safety devices that absorb and mitigate external impact, protect the body and protect the occupant's safety function. The front and rear bumpers of the car, together with the air intake grille, front and rear headlights, etc., constitute the main features of the front and rear of the vehicle.
The materials of car bumpers have undergone a change from metal to plastic. The early front and rear bumpers were mainly made of metal materials, riveted or welded to the frame longitudinal beams, and had a large gap with the body. The quality was large, and the appearance and body style were difficult to unify.
With the development of the automotive industry, engineering plastics have gradually been widely used in automobile manufacturing due to their light weight, corrosion resistance, and large design freedom. At present, the front bumpers of cars on the market generally use two materials of polyester series (such as PBT) and polypropylene series (such as PP), which are made by injection molding.
The existing front bumper adopts one-piece injection molding, which has the advantages of high efficiency and mass production, but has the following disadvantages:
1. Due to the larger size of the parts, the more complicated the front bumper shape is, the more difficult the design and manufacture of the parts, and the higher the mold requirements;
2. When an irreversible collision defect occurs in any area of the current bumper surface, the entire part can only be replaced;
3. At present, there are several kinds of plastic color design for the front bumper appearance: keeping the same with the body, designing by spray paint color separation, and also maintaining the original color appearance of injection molded parts without spray paint.
As users 'requirements for car selection increase, and OEMs' requirements for quality and appearance increase, the manufacture of car bumpers continues to improve from both material and design aspects. For example, the integrated structure design of the front bumper is divided into three parts, and the middle part uses plastic parts, which reduces the size of the injected front bumper body and reduces the difficulty of manufacturing. The front and rear decorative plates on the left and right ends use composite materials, such as glass Fiber and carbon fiber retain fiber texture in appearance, which can not only effectively reduce weight, improve the performance of the bumper assembly, but also enrich the appearance design of the vehicle model and enhance the overall grade of the car.
Based on the accumulated experience in the design and manufacturing of multiple composite automotive exterior parts, JSHR adopted the SMC molding process and innovatively used continuous carbon fiber and chopped fiber mixed raw materials as the blanking sheet to manufacture SMC Front protection decorative board. The sheet used in the traditional SMC process is composed of chopped fibers, resins and fillers. Here, continuous fibers are used as reinforcement to make up the mechanical short board of chopped fibers, which achieves the purpose of local reinforcement. Get upgraded again.
The picture above shows JSHR exhibiting the Front bumper trim panel at 2019 JE World. Through the blending and mixing of different fibers (glass fiber and carbon fiber), a variety of appearance effects have been achieved. .
This component mainly has the following innovations:
1) Compared with the overall use of carbon fiber composite materials for the front bumper, the cost of raw materials is low
2) Compared with the traditional overall plastic front bumper maintenance and replacement later, it is more convenient and the maintenance cost is lower
3) Materials and processes can be combined in many ways, with high design feasibility and more choices, which can meet the needs of consumers at different levels
Front bumper decorative panel-prepreg
Front bumper decorative board-recycled carbon fiber felt
The JSHR design and manufacturing engineering team has verified the process of a variety of materials, and has also proposed other solutions for manufacturing SMC pre-protection decorative panels. For example: the composite material used to make the pre-protection decorative panel can also choose carbon fiber prepreg; The cost can also be selected from SMC or recycled carbon fiber felt, etc .; the manufacturing process can be selected from the autoclave process; considering the improvement of the production cycle, the molding process can be selected.
The application and manufacturing ratio of composite materials on auto parts is limited by the difficulty of manufacturing. In addition, the important influencing factor is cost. Therefore, the selection of suitable materials and reasonable process solutions can bring products to the market and meet different consumer personalities. Demand.