Automotive Engineering Plastics Will Replace Metal Parts

The Chery Land Rover Range Rover Aurora is a light-weight design of the SUV. It is light in the SUV of the same class and many of its components use engineering plastics. On March 3, Zheng Jian, secretary-general of the China Engineering Plastics Industry Association, said in an interview with China Automotive News that Land Rover Range Rover Aurora used a series of advanced lightweight materials in manufacturing, such as PA/PPO alloy applied to the front wing. Daughter board, PC/PBT alloy applied to pedestrian protection energy absorbing blocks, and applied long glass fiber reinforced polypropylene to instrument panel and inner door module, making its weight less than 1.6 tons, 35% lighter than Range Rover Sport, and CO2 emission The amount is less than 130 g/km.

Developed countries use automotive plastics as an important indicator of the level of automotive design and manufacturing. At present, Germany has the largest amount of automobiles, accounting for more than 15% of the total vehicle materials. In addition to the British Land Rover, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz SLR, BMW i series and many other models to a wider range of more advanced automotive engineering plastics. Even some experts predict that the innovative application of new materials in the future may overturn traditional cars.

With smog, energy-saving emission reduction and stricter fuel consumption regulations, domestic auto makers have spared no effort to develop lightweight automotive technologies. As we all know, the lightweight car is mainly reflected in the automotive optimization design, alloy materials and non-metallic materials applications, which in turn are the weight reduction of the car 10% to 15%, 30% to 40%, 45% to 55%. Zheng Zheng told reporters that the "weight loss" effect of non-metallic materials such as engineering plastics is obvious, and its main role in automobiles is to make cars lightweight. At present, more and more auto parts are beginning to use engineering plastics instead of metal parts.

Automotive Engineering Plastics Applications Rise Year by Year

“The specific gravity of general plastics is 0.9-1.6, and the specific gravity of glass-reinforced composites will not exceed 2.0, while A3 steel is 7.6, brass is 8.4, and aluminum is 2.7. This makes plastics the material of choice for lightweight vehicles. The use of plastic can reduce the weight of parts by about 40%, and at the same time, its cost can be greatly reduced.” On March 4, Gao Bei, an engineer at Beiqi Futian Engineering Research Institute Materials Engineering Institute, said in an interview.

Qian Zhiguo, chief engineer of the Research and Development Center of the Beijing Chemical Industry Research Institute, introduced that replacing metal parts with plastic parts can not only reduce vehicle weight, reduce fuel consumption and emissions, but also improve the power, comfort, and safety of the car. Widely used in automotive power and chassis systems, interior and exterior decorative parts, automotive electronics and other components.

Gao Yu introduced that polyamide (PA) materials are mainly used for power, chassis parts and structural parts, accounting for about 20% of the vehicle's plastic; polycarbonate, polyoxymethylene, modified polyphenylene ether and thermoplastic polyester and other materials are mainly Applied to electronic and electrical parts and structural parts, about 15% of the vehicle's plastic. The modified polyphenylene ether (PP) and ABS engineering plastics and their alloy materials are mainly used for interior and exterior parts. With the increase in the grade of vehicles, the application of engineering plastics has increased, and the proportion of ABS and its alloys has increased. She also introduced some advantages of engineering plastics in automotive applications. For example, the use of long glass fiber reinforced composite materials instead of metal external trim parts can reduce the impact of external objects (including pedestrians) on the vehicle body; plastic products also have the ability to absorb and attenuate vibrations. The noise and the ability to improve the comfort of the ride; the use of plastic body covers is very suitable for use in heavily contaminated areas; steel parts if the paint is damaged or the pre-corrosion is not well done it is easy to rust corrosion of metals, but Automotive plastics are highly resistant to corrosion. Plastics are more resistant to acids, alkalis, and salts than steel. In addition, the use of plastic parts instead of metal parts, the cost can be reduced by 30% to 40%.

Domestic automotive engineering plastics research should accelerate

The advantages of engineering plastics are numerous, and they are highly valued by European and American automotive companies, and are widely used. It is reported that in developed countries, the amount of plastic used for each vehicle has increased from 100 to 130 kg in the 1990s to 152 kg in 2004 and 174 kg in 2006, and the current usage is 230 kg. Gao Yu introduced that foreign car brands have now used large-scale plastic composite materials (mainly glass fiber reinforced composite materials such as: long fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), etc.) and high-performance engineering plastics, while domestic auto brands are in plastics. The use of composite materials (weight share) is relatively small. This also reflects the gap in our vehicle's lightweight technology level.

Zheng Zheng believes that engineering plastics should have more extensive applications in automobiles. However, at present, China is not paying enough attention to the application of automotive engineering plastics.

Gao Yu introduced that every application of plastics in automobiles involves solving problems in structural design, manufacturing processes and equipment, material selection, and modification. In addition, the surface or coating, connection, and test evaluation of the product must also be resolved. She believes that vehicle companies should require plastic parts suppliers, material suppliers and vehicle companies to unite in accordance with the needs of their own development, and carry out research work on the application technology of parts and components in response to the need for the development of new models in the future. In an interview with a reporter, BASF officials said: "Let cars be lighter and more energy efficient. BASF's automotive plastics are widely used in automotive interior and exterior trims, power transmission and chassis, plastic wheels and other parts. Some parts can replace aluminum alloy materials, and its reduction Heavy drop this effect is obvious."

Engineering plastics began to replace some aluminum alloy parts

By 2020, the average plastic consumption of automobiles will probably reach 500kg/car or more, accounting for about 1/3 of the total vehicle materials. With the widespread use of new energy vehicles, combined with the high cost of aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys, imports are the mainstay. In the future, the roof, doors, seat parts, wheels, and structural parts of automobiles, and even the body of automobiles may be replaced with engineering plastics. In fact, some parts of foreign high-end car doors and other components have already been changed to engineering plastics.

The smart forvision concept car uses BASF's all-plastic wheels, which reduce weight by more than 30% compared to conventional wheels (12 to 20kg per vehicle), improving fuel economy, but also increasing aerodynamics and crash safety performance. LFT is used for all-plastic hubs and it has excellent overall performance compared with metal. Each wheel not only reduces the weight of 3kg, but also has important significance for improving ride comfort and fuel economy. The outstanding advantages of LFT are: high stiffness and strength, good vibration damping, heat resistance, creep resistance, dimensional stability, and long service life.

Volkswagen has also selected Dow's glass-reinforced PC/ABS alloy to produce the Phaeton US version of the instrument panel mount. This is due to the fact that the energy absorption of the material in the simulated impact test is 50% higher than that of conventional materials; and passengers sitting in front of the seat belt are protected from impact damage. It is reported that Volkswagen's 7th-generation golf front end bracket uses BASF's automotive engineering plastics. Because there is no need for metal supports, parts weight, assembly time, and cost are greatly reduced.

At present, the body made of plastics in the world has been widely used in small-volume production cars or some high-end models, such as the BMW i series. The body made of fiber-reinforced composite plastic material can achieve the goal of reducing the weight by 35% compared with the steel body; if the carbon fiber reinforced composite material is adopted, the effect of reducing the weight by more than 60% can be achieved. At present, due to the high cost of carbon fiber plastic, it is only used on high-end models such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz.