Application of Composites in Car Hoods and Bodies

Composite materials are used in many products, including the car hoods and bodies. The growing number of composites projects in the automotive sector was evident at the 2014 conference of the AVK Federation of Reinforced Composites and the co-located Composites Europe fair in Düsseldorf, Germany.

A car hood project was described by Günter Wolfsberger, product manager composites at automotive supplier Magna Steyr. He referred to production of Crushcore modules: these are polyurethane-based, honeycomb paper core, carbon or glass fibre composite-faced modules, which are produced using wet-pressed vacuum reaction injection moulded (V-RIM), and have Class A surface quality directly out of the mould tool.

Overall cycle time from lay-up to a ready-to-paint car hood is below 300 seconds, inclusive of final contour milling and insert mounting. A fully automated line working three shifts/day can produce 66,000 hoods/day, with possible optimisation to 111,000 hoods/day, Wolfsberger said.

Advantages over metal hoods include: better pedestrian head impact protection, higher overall stiffness, elimination of additional acoustic insulation and lower CO2 emissions through lighter weight – 33% less weight than an aluminium hood.

The hood project started in 2011 with BMW as first OEM partner, Rühl Puromer as PU supplier and Hennecke as PU machinery producer. The technology road map aims at further functional integration, leading to a “multi-functional front cover” in the 2020s. This could integrate antennae, air guidance channels, electrical conduits, filter boxes, hinges, mechanical tubing, 3D internal and external surfaces for brand emblems and energy storage.

Revealing more on the “multi-material composites” process, Rühl Puromer managing director Dr Ingo Kleba said Puropreg PU impregnates the honeycomb, while the Purorim casting system floods the carbon or glass fibre reinforced composite surface with PU, creating an easily paintable surface for serial production. Only one primer layer and two further paint layers are needed, followed by 90-110°C oven paint cure.

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