Hybrid technology based on continuous fiber-reinforced polyamide composites dramatically reduces weight in lightweight automotive construction, as demonstrated by an infotainment mount developed for production vehicles by AUDI AG, LANXESS, KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH and Christian Karl Siebenwurst GmbH & Co. KG Modellbau und Formenbau. “The prototype weighs about half as much as a comparable component in steel, and can be installed more easily and produced in a large-scale manufacturing process,” says LANXESS engineering expert Ulrich Dajek.
Hybrid technology based on continuous fiber-reinforced polyamide composites dramatically reduces weight in lightweight automotive construction, as #
Forming and overmolding in a single mold
The component is produced in a one-shot process in a single mold. It involves the use of two inserts made of Tepex dynalite 102-RG600(2)/47%, a polyamide 6 composite from LANXESS subsidiary Bond-Laminates. They are heated, formed in the injection mold and then directly overmolded with the easy-flow polyamide 6 Durethan BKV 30 EF H2.0 from LANXESS. The one-shot process was developed by several partners as part of the SpriForm project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Hybrid technology based on continuous fiber-reinforced polyamide composites dramatically reduces weight in lightweight automotive construction, as #
High strength and stiffness
The infotainment mount holds an amplifier and optionally a TV tuner. The weight of the installed devices can lead to considerable stresses during driving, particularly in the range of natural oscillation. This applies above all to the region around the points of connection to the body and the add-on parts. These areas therefore are reinforced with Tepex and designed such that, between the points of force transmission, the forces flow mainly via the continuous fibers of the composite material. “This significantly enhances the mechanical performance of the support component, and lends the part very high strength near the points of connection,” Dajek explains.
Hybrid technology based on continuous fiber-reinforced polyamide composites dramatically reduces weight in lightweight automotive construction, as #
Component requires no reworking
The prototype is a result of early and close cooperation between Audi's Control Device Package Development and Fiber Reinforced Plastics Technology Development departments, and the external partners. Audi was responsible for the specifications, component design and component testing. In the joint project, LANXESS and Bond-Laminates among other things designed the component to withstand the prevailing loads and conducted structural mechanics and process analyses. “We took the special technical processing characteristics of Tepex into account from the very beginning,” Dajek says.
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