AUTOMOTIVE | INTERIORS AND EXTERIORS
Right: The 3D hybrid A-pillar on Porsche convertibles and roadsters extends upward from the vehicle rocker panel, accommodates the door hinges and holds the windshield in place at the side. PA 6-based Tepex Dynalite and Durethan materials from Lanxess are used in its structure
structural components in passenger cars need to be capable of meeting stringent requirements in the event of a crash. One example of this is a lightweight A-pillar developed by Porsche’s 3D hybrid design. It is intended for use in cars such as convertibles and roadsters, and is being em- ployed for the first time in the Porsche 911 Cabriolet. The pillar contains an insert made from high-strength steel. This is supported from the inside by a formed blank of PA 6-based Tepex Dynalite 102-RG600(6)/47% and by a ribbed structure made from Durethan AKV30H2.0, which is based on PA 66 and contains short glass fibres. This structure is bonded by friction with the L-5235 structural foam developed by L&L Products. The strength and rigidity of the hybrid insert ensures that the A-pillar is just as good at withstanding rollovers as previous designs featuring high-strength steel tubes. However, it is around 5 kg lighter. The weight reduction is achieved in the greenhouse area of the vehicle, lowering the car’s centre of gravity and thereby improving vehicle dynamics. “The excellent mechanical performance of the
hybrid A-pillar demonstrates that hybrid inserts based on steel sheet, Tepex blanks, PA 6 or PA 66 variations of Durethan as a back-injection material and on a structural foam such as L-5235 also offer considerable potential for use in structural light-
weight vehicle body design,” says Henrik Plaggenborg, Head of
Tepex Automotive at the Lanxess High Performance Materials (HPM) business unit. “That applies to electric vehicles in particular, as their heavy batteries give them a high impact mass. The weight reduction also extends the
range of the electric vehicles that use this technology.” Other potential applications for the hybrid elements include reinforcing cross-members and side members, B- and C-pillars, load-bearing battery parts or door components that are critical to safety. Tepex Dynalite is already used in series production at Porsche for another safety-critical component, in the hybrid moulding process to make the brake pedal for cars including
the Porsche 918 Spyder, Porsche Macan and Porsche Panamera NF.
Tepex continuous-fibre-reinforced com- pounds have also been used in large-scale production of lightweight structural components in the Audi A8. The sedan car is also offered with two electrically adjustable individual rear seats, the shells of which have been developed by Faurecia Automotive Seating and are manufactured using the hybrid moulding process. PA 6-based Tepex Dynalite 102-RG600(2)/47% is used, with short- glass-fibre-reinforced Durethan BKV30H2.0 PA 6 as an over-moulded material. “The reason that our composite material was chosen for this structure was the fact that it is around 45% lighter than a comparable metal design but can also be produced cost-effectively, thanks to the high degree of functional integra- tion,” says Plaggenborg. “It can also withstand the high mechanical loads in a crash.” The company adds that previously comparable
Above: The Audi A8 is offered with two electrically adjustable individual rear seats, the shells of which have been developed by Faurecia Automo- tive Seating and are manufactured using the hybrid moulding process with Tepex Dynalite material from Lanxess
62 INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2019
seats have mainly been made using metal shells screwed onto a substructure. Manufacturing the metal shells is time-consuming as they consist of numerous individual parts that have to be joined together by means of welding in several steps. “In the hybrid moulding process, by contrast, a ready-to-install component is created in a single process step,” says Tilmann Sontag, Project Man- ager at the Tepex Automotive group of HPM. “The pre-contoured and heated semi-finished composite product is formed directly in the injection moulding tool for this purpose, and equipped with numerous functions by means of injection moulding. This simplifies subsequent assembly and leads to considerable savings in production costs.”
www.injectionworld.com
PHOTO: AUDI
PHOTO: LANXESS
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