Assembly - April 2009 - (Page 35)

It’s no longer unusual to find plastic parts under the hood. Photo courtesy BASF Corp. Ongoing performance improvements in the areas of dimensional stability and heat resistance have made increased use of plastic possible. Photo courtesy BASF Corp. lately, despite the economy. “Everyone is hungry for game-changing ideas. The CAFE standards are challenging engineers to do things differently. They’re willing to try things that haven’t been done in the past.” That’s evident in the Automotive Innovation Awards Competition, an annual event sponsored by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE, Brookfield, CT), which has seen a steady increase in entries for under-the-hood applications. Even the types of nominations received have changed in recent years. “A decade ago, it was mostly things like engine beauty shields and air-intake manifolds,” says Peggy Malnati, who administers the 38-year-old award program. “Now, we’re seeing things like all-plastic oil pans and torque-reaction mounts. In other words, polymeric materials are moving into more difficult applications based on the success of earlier metal-to-plastic translations.” One of last year’s winners was a hybrid nylon-aluminum oil pan module produced by G. Bruss GmbH (Hoisdorf, Germany) for use in the Mercedes-Benz C Class sedan. It is more than 2 pounds lighter and 20 percent less expensive than its all-aluminum predecessor. In 2007, an electronic throttle control module made out of thermoset polyester received a first-place award from SPE. The device, supplied by Robert Bosch LLC (Farmington Hills, MI), was used in the Chrysler Pacifica crossover. It replaced a cast aluminum housing, resulting in a 28 percent weight savings and an 18 percent cost savings. In addition, a snap-fit cover eliminated the use of fasteners. Automakers around the world are on a continuous crusade to reduce weight. For instance, Nissan Motor Co. (Tokyo) plans to make its cars 15 percent lighter by 2015. To tackle that challenge, the company recently started to make plastic rocker covers and front covers for the diesel engines on its Navara and Pathfinder vehicles. By molding the parts from nylon, instead of aluminum, Nissan engineers were able to reduce weight by 40 percent. They achieved similar savings by converting the electric water valve assembly used on the Armada, Quest and Titan from steel to plastic. Plastic use is expected to increase under the hood as automakers rush to build small, fuel-efficient engines. General Motors Corp. (GM, Detroit) plans to double global production of four-cylinder engines by 2011. Within two years, one-third of all GM engines assembled in North America will be four-cylinder and 21 percent will be turbocharged. During the same time frame, Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI) plans to double production of four-cylinder engines in North America to more than 1 million units. A New Mindset The plastic-under-the-hood trend started in Europe, where automakers have long built vehicles equipped with small, fuel-efficient engines. Brian Baleno, global market manager at Solvay Advanced Polymers LLC (Alpharetta, GA), says European engineers tend to be more progressive in their willingness to use plastic for powertrain applications. “[There is a] higher emphasis in Europe on overall system efficiency and fuel economy gained by using plastic where metals were historically used,” he points out. “This is starting to change in the United States.” European automotive engineers also have been more willing to work closely with materials suppliers to develop plastic-friendly designs. “They have had a long-term, positive experience with thermoplastics,” says Marianne Morgan, marketing sector leader for powertrain at BASF Corp. (Florham Park, NJ). “North American manufacturers had some failures with plastics back in the 1980s and 1990s, when their [metal-based] designs were not optimized for plastic material.” Changing that mindset is one of the biggest challenges to replacing metal powertrain components with plastic. www.assemblymag.com April 2009 / ASSE M B LY 35 http://www.assemblymag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Assembly - April 2009

Assembly - April 2009 Contents Editorial Automation Profiles New & Noteworthy Assembly Plant of the Year Down the Line Welding Beads Quality in Assembly Assembly Lines Assembly in Action Standard Helps Suppliers Take Flight Plastics Under the Hood Leak Testing Auto Parts Press for Success Products Advertisers Index Classified Leading Lean

Assembly - April 2009

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