In places with poor road surfaces, the bottom of the vehicle has to withstand the impact of stones thrown from the ground, and even directly contact the ground. As a result, a German automaker will equip a range of models with vehicles that have a particularly strong thermoplastic composite engine, and then deliver these models to countries with poor road infrastructure.
The engine chassis is composed of Tepex Dynalite continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite material and DLFT (direct long fiber thermoplastic) composite material from Lanxess. Tepex application developer Harri Dittmar explains: "The toughness and tensile strength of Tepex materials make this composite design more resistant to impact and damage than previous material solutions. The new component also significantly reduces weight. Tepex-DLFT composite design The engine chassis is more than 60% lighter than the equivalent steel components. When the new material replaces aluminum, the lightest weight of the engine tray can reach 20% of the original.
The engine chassis is manufactured by GSI Deutschland GmbH in Hrgertshausen, Germany. Tepex and DLFT's component solutions were developed by Polytec Group (Hrsching, Austria) in collaboration with Lanxess. The vehicle's underbody protection was previously made from a polypropylene (PP) -based composite design that includes a glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic system (GMT) and another fabric-reinforced GMT; until now, the underbody protection of vehicles had been made of steel.
The new vehicle chassis is manufactured in molds, such as for GMT and related materials. The difference is the use of a Tepex dynalite 104-RG601 insert with a wall thickness of 1 mm. This includes glass fiber fabrics, which contain 47% continuous glass fiber roving and a PP matrix. The required volume of DLFT compound is extruded and heated, and then the two materials are formed in a stamper. As a result, a component having a Tepex surface on the engine side is manufactured, which is the side subjected to the tensile load. "Our material solutions are more cost-effective than previous composites because DLFT is a direct extrudate that can be produced at a particularly low cost and takes up component volume," said Henrik Plaggenborg, Tepex's head of automotive technology marketing business development The larger part. "
Lanxess believes that Tepex will become an increasingly popular material for vehicle protection. Many automakers currently use steel or aluminum to make such parts, which has some disadvantages such as weight. In electric vehicles, relatively heavy aluminum alloy plates are a particularly popular solution for protecting the underside of a battery system. Dittmar concludes: "Using Tepex in combination with DLFT results in lighter, more powerful components and more effective sound insulation."
Tepex Dynalite was developed and produced by Bond-Laminates GmbH, a subsidiary of Lanxess in Brilon, Germany. In addition to protecting the vehicle's chassis, it is also molded and injected on the back, making it possible to make seat backs, module supports, battery consoles, front parts, brake pedals and bumper beams. Due to the growing potential use of Tepex in lightweight automotive engineering, Lanxess has established a dedicated project team to support global partners through all stages of Tepex component development until product release.