Joyson Safety Systems is a leading global supplier of automotive safety systems, dedicated to providing critical safety components, systems and technologies for the automotive market, including airbags, seat belts, steering wheels and safety electronics. In addition, the company is also a manufacturer that provides a series of steering wheels with HOD (Hands-on-Detection) function, supplying autonomous driving for well-known OEMs in North America and Europe.
Joyson Safety Systems has launched a 3D printing research project dedicated to developing its potential for airbag housing manufacturing. Since the DAB housing is a safety component in a vehicle, its performance is critical. This means that in an emergency, the airbag will inflate in a short period of about 30-50 milliseconds (milliseconds) to prevent passengers from being injured. The DAB housing fixes the entire airbag system in place, so it is also a basic essential component of the system.
Samer Ziadeh and Daniel Alt of the core innovation team of Joyson’s safety system explained the function of the DAB shell and stated, “When deploying an airbag system, in addition to fixing the inflator and airbag cushion in place, they also have to withstand a lot of The dynamic load is mainly the load generated by the pressure required to inflate the airbag, which causes the airbag shell to withstand the stress. The test is generally carried out in the temperature range of -35 ℃ to +85 ℃." Therefore, The airbag shell material should have sufficient strength, impact resistance and thermal stability to ensure its normal operation under different test conditions.
The airbag shell of the traditional injection molding process is generally a 40% glass fiber reinforced polyamide composite material (PA6-GF40). The Joyson Safety Systems team used Windform TOP-LINE series of high-performance materials from CRP Technology for 3D printing. Ziadeh and Alt said: "After a series of market analysis, we encountered Windform TOP-LINE composite materials, especially Windform SP. Windform SP is a polyamide composite material reinforced by automotive carbon fiber, which almost has our application. Even more excellent performance is required.” Thanks to the cooperation with CRP Technology and the use of Windform SP Carbon composite materials, the team has completed the production and related performance tests of automotive carbon fiber composite airbag shells.