thermoplastic composites | Innovation
matrix that is generally reinforced with layers of continuous glass fibre fabric. The brake pedal incorpo- rates overlays aligned in the longitudinal direction and several woven inner layers with fibres aligned at +45°or -45°. The outer overlays provide the high tensile and flexural strength required while the inner layers deliver the high torsional performance. The component is manufactured using a one-shot hybrid moulding process that integrates shaping of the Tepex insert into the injection moulding. The injection over-moulding material is Durethan BKV 60 H2.0, a polyamide 6 from Lanxess reinforced with 60% short glass fibres.
Comparison of mechanical properties between UD tape and an 80/20 ratio UD fabric-based material Source: SABIC
UD tape shows higher compression strength than fabric-based TPC, which has fibre undulations Source: SABIC
Government-funded Jaguar Land Rover ALIVE6 Project. The composite oil pan passed all the testing require- ments and delivered a 1kg weight saving. Mike Mat- thews, managing director of Nifco UK, says the company hopes to see the part in mass production. “We have worked very closely with DuPont to adjust the design and optimise the process to answer the cycle time requirements of the mass series production,” he says.
A brake on innovation One TPC component that is already in production—al- beit for use on cars that few of us will ever have the opportunity to drive – is the brake pedal for the Porsche Panamera NF and Bentley Continental GT (both produced by Volkswagen Group). The part, which uses an insert made of Tepex Dynalite from Lanxess, was last year awarded first place in the “Body Interior” category of the Automotive Award of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and was jointly developed by component producer BOGE Elastmetall and the Lanxess High Performance Materials business unit. “Special recognition was given to the fact that the
brake pedal weighs about half as much as a compara- ble steel structure. It can also be manufactured in large-scale series production using a cost-effective one-shot process and meets the high load require- ments thanks to the multi-axial fibre layer construction of the Tepex insert,” says Ulrich Jecmeniza, an Expert in Lightweight Construction with Lanxess group company Bond Laminates. Tepex Dynalite is a fully consolidated semi-finished product with a thermoplastic
20 INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2017
Turning to tapes SABIC, like Lanxess, has also bought in TPC technology with the acquisition of Dutch start-up FRT Tapes around a year ago. The business, which now operates as an affiliate company, SABIC FRT, focuses on development, manufacturing and commercialisation of unidirectional (UD) tapes based on glass and carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastics. It offers engineered thermoplastic UD tape products across a wide variety of industries, ranging from building and construction to transportation. At the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, SABIC was
targeting its UDMax tapes at the commercial vehicles market, highlighting a truck trailer floor panel, side walls and bulkhead. Earlier this year, it used its presence at the World Economic Forum in Davos to show how composites (and other SABIC materials) can be used in lightweight reusable structures. SABIC has developed UD tapes containing various
resins and fibres. An early offering is UDMax GPP 45-70 Tape, based on glass fibre reinforced polypropylene. SABIC’s Chief Scientist for Composites, Warden Schijvvve, and European Marketing Manager for Composites, Gino Francato, recently discussed the new materials and how they can be used in over-moulding processes. They argue that use of UD tapes has important advantages over fabrics in such over-moulded parts. Depending on the application, a
clear load path may go in only one direction and in such cases, a pure UD laminate will deliver maximum performance - much more than would be achiev-
This brake pedal reinforced with Tepex TPC is used
on the Bentley Continental and Porsche Panamera
www.injectionworld.com
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