Glass-Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites for Front End Module Applications (2011-26-0053)

Use of glass-reinforced thermoplastic composites in automotive industry has grown gradually during the past decades because of an appropriate combination of properties such as high stiffness, high heat performance and lower specific gravities at a relative low cost. These materials have found applications in semi-structural parts such as instrument panels, door structures, underbody-shields and front-end module carriers.
Front-End Module is one key application, which has shown a development from pressed metal sheet assemblies towards SMC or GMT, pressed parts. Hybrid Steel + Plastic system is also explored for front-ends to balance weight and stiffness of the part. However presently the key trends in FEM design have been to improve performance/weight ratio by reducing the metal content.
The present paper demonstrates full plastic Front-End Module designs using long glass reinforced PP material such as SABIC® STAMAX® [1], processed by injection moulding. Mechanical performance of these Front End Modules (FEM) under different loading conditions is discussed. The full plastic FEM can show advantage such as lightweight front-end construction, integration of functionality, which in turn saves assembly time, reduces costs and lowers mass.