Experimental investigation of automotive component in hybrid fibre reinforced thermoplastic design

Authors

  • Andreas Maier Research and Innovation Centre, BMW Group
  • Lothar Kroll Department of Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21935/tls.v5i1.161

Abstract

A tailored use of continuous fibre reinforced plastics enables application in high volume car body structures. The combination of pultruded, load carrying, unidirectional, continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic (FRTP) profiles and injection moulds, named “skeleton design”, is a promising approach to meet structural requirements and economical needs. This design offers the advantages of FRTP such as short cycle times of approx. 75 s and functional integration via injection moulding. A pre-serial BMW iX geometry of a windshield panel is used to analyse the impact of different fibre configurations in the profiles on the mechanical properties of the part. Therefore, different pultruded profiles with a cross-section of 10 mm x 10 mm made of polyamide 6 (PA6) with carbon fibres (CF) and glass fibres (GF) as well as a CF/GF hybrid were used. Furthermore, an optimized part using different materials within one part was investigated. Therefore, quasi-static and dynamic compression tests were performed on part level. It could be shown that the optimized parts meet mechanical requirements while decreasing material costs significantly.

Published

2022-03-31