UNDER THE HOOD | AUTOMOTIVE
Under-the-hood automotive applications are undergoing a transformation. Mark Holmes reports on developments in the injection moulding industry to meet the challenges of electric and hybrid vehicles
No grille: Moulding meets electromobility challenges
The move in automotive to electromobility is driving many changes in vehicle design and manufacture. In turn, this is affecting the injection moulding industry. Manufacturers of injection moulding machinery are reconfiguring processes to accommodate new designs and structures for parts, often with complex geometries. In addition, new plastic materials are needed to meet a different set of challenges to those posed by conventional vehicles and resin manufacturers and compounders are now bringing these to the market. The main current trend influencing plastic injection moulding for under-the-hood automotive applications is the move from standard internal combustion engines to electric drives, reports machinery manufacturer KraussMaffei. “The simple fact that there is no more need for an extensive cooling device dominating the design of the automotive front grille will completely change the design of vehicles outside and inside, where new main pathways for electric energy supply are required,” says Martin Würtele, Head of Technology Development. “In addition, there are completely new challenges in handling new weights blocks,
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such as battery packs underneath the car in the middle of the chassis. All this is combined with the major trend of replacing materials with more sustainable solutions, such as parts from recycled plastics, as well as higher cost pressures resulting from R&D on a new generation of vehicles.” He continues: “These factors will lead to new
structural parts both in under-the-hood and bottom-of-the-car body applications, with new challenges in mechanical properties and lighter weight requirements. This will involve hybrid thermoplastic lightweight parts manufactured with technologies such as FiberForm from KraussMaffei using a combination of unidirectional [UD] tapes and organosheets, as well as plastics and the option of some steel. In addition, further weight reduction by partially foaming these hybrid parts will be an option for some parts, which is being looked at in the ReLei project. In the classical under-the-hood area we will also see much more electronics dealing with all the information from the sensors required for autonomous driving. This will require parts with less heat resistance but more passive resistance against moisture to avoid short
May 2020 | INJECTION WORLD 15
Main image: VW’s ID3 shows new design
possibilities for EV front-ends
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