Ford's 1999 C170 Focus GOR model uses the first plastic-metal hybrid (PMH) front-end structural member by the American Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE) Automotive Branch as the 2019 Hall of Fame winner.
This plastic-metal front-end structural member is composed of Lanxess's Durethan BKV30H2.0 (30% glass fiber reinforced nylon 6 / good thermal stability) and steel inserts. It is said that compared with all-steel components, the product reduces weight by 40% and costs by 30%, simplifies the process steps, and realizes highly integrated functions, high precision and high quality, and higher load carrying capacity.
To be an award-winning product in the SPE Hall of Fame, auto parts must have a continuous service history of more than 15 years and be widely used in the automotive industry. SPE said that the product has so far been used in more than 70 applications worldwide and produced more than 7,000 products.
The companies and individuals involved in the product development include: Ford, American system supplier / mold process service provider Visteon, German tool manufacturer Misslbeck, and LANXESS; Boris Koch is the inventor of Bayer / LANXPM PM innovative components And designer, Dr. Hubert Goldbach is the inventor and designer of Bayer PMH products.
According to SPE, LANXESS PMH technology combines the design flexibility, low density characteristics of glass fiber reinforced PA6 composites and the low thermal expansion characteristics of metal materials. The integrated application of thermoplastic composite materials and metal materials makes the component have higher load carrying capacity than sheet metal profiles, higher torsional rigidity than open sheet metal profiles, higher production and use accuracy, and higher functional integration .
The key design feature of this component is the rib structure made by injection molding process in thin-walled metal profiles, which has closed-shaped grip points, working substrates, overmolding edges and reinforcing ribs outside the profiles (providing mechanical adhesion) , Thereby improving the strength and support of the components.
Another design feature is to drill a tapered perforation in the metal plate to provide a port for the thermoplastic rib structure; fix the thermoplastic rib structure on the metal flange to ensure a proper position; Provide additional strength and support inside. The above characteristics make a strong mechanical connection between the thermoplastic composite material and the metal structure.
Lanxess' PMH front-end structure technology can integrate multiple functions in a single operation (perforating metal to integrate 21 different components into a whole), which greatly improves production efficiency, cost-effectiveness and component performance.